Derivatives of malachite green, a well-known triphenylmethine dye, have been adapted for third-generation photovoltaic applications as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). The solar cells were developed based on a concentrated Br3−/Br− liquid electrolyte coupled to different trifluoroacetate (TFA−), triflate (TfO−), bromide (Br−) and tetrafluoroborate (BF4−) malachite green salts as dye sensitizers and mesoporous TiO2 anatase as electron collector, and their optoelectronic properties were characterized. The adsorption patterns of such salts at the TiO2 nanoparticle surface were studied by zeta (ζ) potential measurements on colloidal suspensions under neat conditions, and compared to the desorption rates of the dyes when exposed to the DSSC electrolyte. The different affinities of the ionic pairs for the oxide surface and the bulk were found crucial for the stability of the self-assembled monolayer of carboxylic acid-anchored chromophores at the surface, and for the photoconversion efficiency associated therewith. This study aimed at depicting the behavior of the ionic pairs at the surface and gave insights for their physical and chemical stabilization in the DSSC environment.

Various triflate (TfO–), tetrafluoroborate (BF4 –), and perchlorate (ClO4 –) salts of (E)-9-(3-(4-(diphenylamino)­phenyl)­allylidene)-9H-carbazol-9-ium chromophores, asymmetrical streptocyanine blue dyes, were synthesized, and their structures and photochemical and electrochemical properties were characterized. Displaying a high absorption band in the wavelength range 620–640 nm in acidified benzonitrile, the dyes provide an intense absorption at longer wavelength thanks to their oxidized π-conjugated systems. The π-electronic structure underwent twisting and bending, counteracting the electron-donating/withdrawing induction of its different substituents with a propensity to cancel its dipole moment and HOMO–LUMO charge-transfer coefficient. Zeta potential measurements of colloidal suspensions of sensitized TiO2 anatase nanoparticles outlined the difference in electric behavior of the organic ionic pairs at the surface of the nanoparticles: The noncoordinating or coordinating characters of the counterions were found governing the molecular density at the surface and the adsorption/desorption kinetics of the ionic pairs. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) measurements performed with I–/I3 – as redox shuttle outlined the availability of the dyes for solar cell sensitization and the conditions for best stability/efficiency of such π-conjugated structures according to the nature of the counterion.

No abstract