Molecular Design of Sensitizers for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

A Multitechnique Physicochemical Investigation of Various Factors Controlling the Photoaction Spectra and of Some Aspects of the Electron Transfer for a Series of Push–Pull Zn(II) Porphyrins Acting as Dyes in DSSCs

“…Many investigations have been devoted to the search for new photosensitizers based on Ru(II)–polypyridyl complexes that may show better properties . For instance, Ru(II) complexes with dipyridyl ligands carrying π-delocalized substituents , show an increased intensity and a red shift of the relatively weak metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) bands typical of Ru(II)–polypyridyl complexes. ,, Moreover, various Fe(II), Pt(II), Os(II), Re(I), and Cu(I) complexes have been also investigated as dyes for DSSCs, but for these complexes, a relatively poor efficiency has been reported…”

“…Metal porphyrins, characterized by very strong absorption bands around 450 nm (Soret band) and 600–700 nm (Q band), are potentially interesting photosensitizers; therefore, in the recent years, some research efforts have been devoted to their application in DSSCs. ,,, …”

Benzodithiophene based organic dyes for DSSC: Effect of alkyl chain substitution on dye efficiency

“…[5,6,7] The most efficient metal-free dyes for DSSC are characterized by a push-pull structure in which an electron-rich donor group communicates with an electron-acceptor one through a π-conjugated system which, not only determines cell light absorption regions, but also affects the electron injection from the dye excited state to the TiO 2 surface. A number of conjugated aromatic and heteroaromatic systems have been investigated as spacers and dyes containing substituted thiophene or thienothiophene bridges have already shown remarkable efficiencies when employed in DSSC.…”

β-Substituted ZnII porphyrins as dyes for DSSC: A possible approach to photovoltaic windows

“…The more facile charge recombination between the electron injected into the photoanode and the reducing component of the redox shuttle could be the possible origin of such low VOC values [4,6,34,72]. In fact the almost flat porphyrinic structure cannot produce a substantial three-dimensional barrier on the TiO2 surface necessary to prevent a significant contact and an easy electron exchange process between the photoanode surface and the electrolyte.…”

“…DSSCs have emerged as an alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells, being low cost photovoltaic devices with interesting power conversion efficiency. Since DSSCs can be obtained in transparent form and with tunable different colors, they can be potentially interesting for their application in PV glass integrated façades or "smart" windows [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”