Molecular Engineering of Organic Dyes for Improved Recombination Lifetime in Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

A major limitation of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells is a short electron diffusion length, which is due to fast recombination between electrons in the TiO2 electron-transporting layer and holes in the 2,2',7,7'-tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9,9'-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD) hole-transporting layer. In this report, the sensitizing dye that separates the TiO2 from the Spiro-OMeTAD was engineered to slow recombination and increase device performance. Through the synthesis and characterization of three new organic D-pi-A sensitizing dyes (WN1, WN3, and WN3.1), the quantity and placement of alkyl chains on the sensitizing dye were found to play a significant role in the suppression of recombination. In solid-state devices using Spiro-OMeTAD as the hole-transport material, these dyes achieved the following efficiencies: 4.9% for WN1, 5.9% for WN3, and 6.3% for WN3.1, compared to 6.6% achieved with Y123 as a reference dye. Of the dyes investigated in this study, WN3.1 is shown to be the most effective at suppressing recombination in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells, using transient photovoltage and photocurrent measurements.