Molecular modification of coumarin dyes for more efficient dye sensitized solar cells

In this work, new coumarin based dyes for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have been designed by introducing several substituent groups in different positions of the NKX-2311 structure. Two types of substitutions have been considered: the introduction of three electron-donating groups (-OH, -NH2, and -OCH3) and two different substituents with steric effect: -CH2-CH2-CH2- and -CH2-HC=CH-. The electronic absorption spectra (position and width of the first band and absorption threshold) and the position of the LUMO level related to the conduction band have been used as theoretical criteria to evaluate the efficiency of the new dyes. The introduction of a -NH2 group produces a redshift of the absorption maximum position and the absorption threshold, which could improve the cell efficiency. In contrast, the introduction of -CH2-CH2-CH2- does not modify significantly the electronic structure of NKX-2311, but it might prevent aggregation. Finally, -CH2-HC=CH- produces important changes both in the electronic spectrum and in the electronic structure of the dye, and it would be expected as an improvement of cell efficiency for these dyes. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4711049]