G. Qi et al. / Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry 239 (2012) 28–36
35
Therefore, two controversial factors affect the solar energy con-
version efficiencies of solar cell within PO–PN and PO–PO–PN. The
energy transfer from PO to PN favors the solar energy conversion
process while the electron transfer from PN to PO is unfavorable
to the solar energy conversion. Obviously the effect of unfavor-
able electron transfer in PO–PN and PO–PO–PN overwhelms that of
favorable energy transfer and consequently the overall solar energy
conversion efficiency is reduced. The cell performance would be
improved significantly if the electron transfer from PN to PO were
avoided.
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In conclusion, we have successfully synthesized a series of novel
rigid and linear PDI-based donor-acceptor derivatives with varied
number of PO units and an anhydride as the strong coupling group
for dye-sensitized solar cells. These PDIs have broad absorptions in
the visible-to-NIR region, showing that they are excellent light har-
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selectively excited, photoinduced intramolecular energy transfer
proceeded efficiently from the excited PO units to the PN unit. The
IPCE spectra unequivocally corroborate that the introduction of the
donor PO is responsible for the significant improvement of the cell
performance in the range of 420–640 nm in relative to that in the
region around 700 nm, although the overall solar energy conver-
sion efficiency decreased in the order of PN, PO–PN, PO–PO–PN
owing to the unexpected electron transfer. It is obvious that the
cell performance would be improved, if the electron transfer from
PN to PO were avoided by modifying the dye molecules and opti-
mize the preparation of the photovoltaic devices. We believe that
this information is useful for the development of new generation
of PDI sensitizers for DSSC.
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Acknowledgements
Financial supports from Natural Science Foundation of China
(21073112, 21173136), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong
Province (ZR2010EZ007), Key lab of photochemistry of Chinese
Academy of Science, Ministry of Education, are gratefully acknowl-
edged. Thanks are also debt to Prof. JH Zhan for the help on the IPCE
and I–V characteristic measurements of the solar cells.
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