Structural Modification of Organic Dyes for Efficient Coadsorbent-Free Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Three triphenylamine-based organic sensitizers with different electron-donating substituents (butoxyl chains or dimethylamine groups) were examined to investigate the effect of bulky alkoxy donor substituents on the photovoltaic performances of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) in the presence and absence of the coadsorbent chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) in dye-bath solutions. The study showed that, using the D29 dye without bulky alkoxy substituents, the power conversion efficiency of DSC was significantly increased by about 84% in the presence of CDCA as compared to that in the absence of CDCA addition during the sensitization. However, the photovoltaic performance of D35-sensitized DSC having four bulky butoxyl substituents was not dependent on CDCA at all, probably due to the inherent structural nature of the D35 molecule. The DSC based on the D37 sensitizer with only two bulky butoxyl chains displayed an expected medium performance as compared to D29 and D35. The inclusion of bulky alkoxy electron-donating substituents in dye molecules for efficient DSCs suppressed the electron recombination and reduced the interactions between dye molecules. This emphasizes the importance of designing novel dyes including functional groups that incorporate the properties normally needed from an external coadsorbent. The development of a coadsorbent free system is in particular important for the future economization and simplification of the DSCs' assembly process.