Novel organic sensitizer based on directly linked oligothiophenes to donor nitrogen atom for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Insertion of a naphthalenediimide unit in a metal-free donor–acceptor organic sensitizer for efficiency enhancement of a dye-sensitized solar cell

“…Research concerning organic D-π-A dyes has M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT customarily focused on the π-conjugated spacer units which can facilitate charge transfer and can increase light absorption over the visible range, in some cases into the near infra-red (IR) region. Therefore, several kinds of electron-rich functionalities have been used into the π-linkers, such as thiophene [25][26][27], thienothiophene [28][29], 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene [8], dithienosilole [30], and dithienopyrrole [31] to name a few. While this progress is encouraging, ample scope still exists to develop new organic sensitizers that possess broad and efficient optical absorption, narrow band-gaps and adequate solubility for DSSC fabrication.…”