Triazine dyes as photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells

A new series of triazine-containing donor–π-acceptor organic sensitizers (TCT-(7–19)) with broad absorptions and high molar extinction coefficients have been designed and synthesized based on our previous work. All these dyes were completely characterized by 1H NMR, ESI-MS, EA, IR, UV–vis, and cyclic voltammetry. The photovoltaic performances of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on these dyes were investigated. The effect of conjugating length and terminating groups on the absorption properties and photovoltaic performances were discussed. An overall photon-to-electron conversion efficiency of 3.69% was achieved with the DSSC based on the dye TCT-13 (Jsc=7.76 mA cm−2, Voc=691 mV, FF=68.8%) under AM 1.5G illumination (100 mW/cm2).