Improved photovoltaic performances of Ru (II) complex sensitized DSSCs by co-sensitization of carbazole based chromophores

Abstract

Herein, we report photovoltaic performance studies of three carbazole based dyes (N1 3) derived from (Z)-3-(9-hexyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-2-(thiophen-2-yl)acrylonitrile scaffold as effective co-sensitizers in Ru (II) complex, i.e. NCSU-10 sensitized DSSCs. From the results it is evident that, the device fabricated using co-sensitizer N3 with 0.2 mM of NCSU-10 exhibited improved photon conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.73% with JSC of 19.87 mA cm? 2, VOC of 0.655 V and FF of 67.0%, while N1 displayed PCE of 8.29% with JSC of 19.75 mA cm? 2, VOC of 0.671 V and FF of 62.6%, whereas NCSU-10 (0.2 mM) alone displayed PCE of 8.25% with JSC of 20.41 mA cm? 2, VOC of 0.667 V and FF of 60.6%. However, their EIS studies confirm that, N1, showing higher VOC is efficient in suppressing the undesired charge recombination in DSSCs through enhanced surface coverage on TiO2 and thereby resulting in longer electron lifetime than that of NCSU-10 dye alone. Here, the higher PCE of N3 can be attributed to its improved light harvesting efficiency, which is due to the presence of highly electron withdrawing barbituric acid in its structure. Conclusively, the results showcase the potential of simple carbazole based dyes as co-sensitizers in improving efficiency of DSSCs. 2017