Organic Dyes Containing a Coplanar Indacenodithiophene Bridge for High-Performance Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

A series of new organic dyes exploiting coplanar indacenodithiophene as the central pi-spacer of the classical donor-(pi-spacer)-acceptor configuration were synthesized and characterized for dye-sensitized solar cells. The coplanarity of the indacenodithiophene core facilitates efficient donor to acceptor charge transfer, imparting the new organic dyes significant bathochromic shifts and remarkable power conversion efficiencies of up to 6.7% (DTInDT) under AM 1.5G radiation.