Donor Effect on the Photoinduced Interfacial Charge Transfer Dynamics of D−π–A Diketopyrrolopyrrole Dye Sensitizers Adsorbed on Titanium Dioxide

In this report, we investigate the effects of a strong electron-donating group on the electron injection and recombination processes of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-sensitized TiO2 films by comparing the dynamics of triphenylamine donor-installed DPP_A and donor-absent DPP_R dyes. We show that the electron-donating group enhances the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) characteristics of DPP_A, as demonstrated by a significant spectral redshift in the steady-state measurement of DPP_A compared to that of DPP_R. By comparing the ultrafast transient behaviors of the dye-coated films through femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) measurements, we provide insight into the high efficiency of DPP_A: most of the electrons from DPP_A are injected into the conduction band of TiO2 within the time resolution of TA (