Intramolecular Charge-Transfer Tuning of Perylenes: Spectroscopic Features and Performance in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Five novel perylene molecules with different intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) characters have been synthesized. The relation between the ICT character for different donating groups and the results for their electro- and photochemical properties as well as their performance in nanostructured dye-sensitized solar cells (nDSC) are reported. With the stronger donors, we obtain a shift of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) to more negative potential versus normal hydrogen electrode (NHE) as well as an increase the charge separation in the dye upon excitation. Ab initio calculations were used to analyze the effects on orbital energies and electron distribution with the different donors. Incorporating the dyes in nDSCs, we see a drastical improvement in the performance for the more polar dyes. In particular, we find a much improved photovoltage because of higher LUMO levels, allowing conduction band tuning in the TiO2 as well as a contribution from the permanent dipoles in the dyes. The photocurr...