Unsymmetrical extended pi-conjugated zinc phthalocyanine for sensitization of nanocrystalline TiO2 films

We have designed and synthesized a new unsymmetrical zinc phthalocyanine based on 'push-pull' and extended pi-conjugation concept, PCH008. The new sensitizer was fully characterized by CHN anlysis, UV-Vis., fluorescence spectroscopies and cyclic voltammetry. The new sensitizer which upon anchoring onto nanocrystalline TiO2 film exhibit a short circuit current of 5.63 mA cm(-2), open circuit potential of 557.0 mV and a fill factor of 0.75 corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 2.35% under standard global air mass (AM) 1.5 solar conditions and compared its performance with literature reported phthalocyanine dyes.