Effect of Extended Conjugation of N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Based Sensitizers on the Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Suri Babu Akula, Huei Siou Chen, Chaochin Su*, Bo Ren Chen, Jiunn Jie Chiou, Chia Hsuan Shieh, Ya Fen Lin, Wen Ren Li

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the synthesis, characterization, and photovoltaic properties of four ruthenium complexes (CI101, CBTR, CB111, and CB108) having various N-heterocyclic carbene ancillary ligands, pyridine-imidazole, -benzimidazole, -dithienobenzimidazole, and -phenanthroimidazole, respectively. These complexes were designed to investigate the effect of extended conjugation ordained from ring fusion on the power conversion efficiencies of the solar cells. The device sensitized by CB108, the pyridine-phenanthroimidazole conjugated complex, showed an improved efficiency (9.89%) compared to those of pyridine-benzimidazole conjugated system (CBTR, 9.72%) and the parent unfused ring system (CI101, 6.24%). Surprisingly, the sulfur-incorporated pyridine-dithienobenzimidazole system (CB111, 9.24%) exhibited a little lower efficiency than that of N719 (9.41%). The enhanced photovoltaic performance of CB108 was mainly attributed to the increase in electron lifetime and diffusion length confirmed by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)12987-12995
Number of pages9
JournalInorganic Chemistry
Volume56
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - 06 11 2017
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Chemical Society.

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