Investigation of the effect of a nitro group as an anchor group in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

As a result of the increasing in the world population, the development of technology to meet increasing energy needs and to find other energy resources is one of the biggest tests for society. Triphenylamine and its derivatives attract the attention of researchers due to their many applications such as in solar cells, electronics, and medicine. The nitro group, an electron-accepting chromophore, is a good candidate for D–π–A sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells. In this study, the power conversion efficiency of an anchor nitro group in dye-sensitized solar cells and the synthesis of new compounds containing a donor triphenylamine unit, functionalized with a nitro group as an anchor group and possessing a π-conjugated structure are investigated. The structures of the compounds are determined by FTIR, UV-Vis spectrometry, NMR, and MS. Considering the photovoltaic performance of the produced dye-sensitized solar cell devices, the anchor group, and its acceptor effect, it is observed that the efficiency increases, in the order, F2 < F1. The highest power conversion efficiency value of 0.45% was obtained with the F1-based dye-sensitized solar cell under amplitude modulation irradiation (100 mW cm−2). From the obtained results, it can be seen that an increase in the number of electron-donor groups located close to the anchor group increases the power conversion efficiency.