Synthesis of new phthalocyanine complexes and investigation of their suitability for dye sensitized solar cells

In this thesis, it is aimed to synthesize new phthalonitrile derivatives and their metal complexes, identification of their structures and investigation of their photovoltaic properties. In this study, 4- (4-tritylphenoxy) phthalonitrile (3) was synthesized by the reaction of 4-nitrophthalonitrile with tritylphenol; 3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenytoxy) phthalonitrile (9) was synthesized by the reaction of 2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenytoxy) with 3-nitrophthalonitrile; (E)-3-(3,4-bis(3,4-dicyanophenoxy)phenyl)acrylic acid (14) and (E)-3-(4-(3,4-dicyanophenoxy)-3-hydroxyphenyl)acrylic acid (18) were synthesized by the reaction of 4-nitrophthalonitrile and cafeic acid starting materials as molar in 1:1 and 1:2 ratio. Metallo phthalocyanine compounds were obtained from the reaction of the appropriate metal salts (Zn, Cu, and Co) with the obtained phthalonitrile complexes. Aggregation measurements were done in appropriate solvents and concentration. Also, fluorescence measurements of the zinc phthalocyanines have been done. FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, UV-Vis and mass spectral data were used to identify the structures of these newly synthesized compounds. In addition, current density (J) versus voltage (V) measurements were carried out investigate the photovoltaic properties of the synthesized complexes. The calculated power conversion efficiencies η (%) of the complexes using the obtained current density (J) versus voltage (V) curves show that these compounds can be used as promising sensitizers in dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications. Keywords: Aggregation, Dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC), Metallo phthalocyanines, Phthalonitrile, Photovoltaic.