Perylene Dyes Based Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC)

Recently, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have received great attention for their simple fabrication process, low production costs and, relatively high conversion efficiency. DSSCs are a combination of materials, consisting of a transparent electrode coated with a dye-sensitized mesoporous film of nanocrystalline particles of TiO2, an electrolyte containing a suitable redox couple and an electrode. DSSCs based on PDI derivatives are attractive because of enhanced light absorption due to their high molar absorption coefficient and good electron transport properties; moreover, high electron mobility through π-π stacking favors intermolecular charge transfer and increase the charge separation. In this project, we aim to develop materials and manufacturing procedure for Dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on titanium dioxide with long lifetime and high efficiencies. Additionally, the DSSC`s based on different PDI`s produced in our research group are successfully made. The energy conversion efficiency in different DSSC`s are measured and calculated. Furthermore, the DSSC production technology details are optimized in applications. Accordingly, we synthesized a new bay substituted anhydride and diimides in three consecutive steps (1, 7-dibromoperylene 3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride, 1, 7(6)-di (2-decyl-1-tetradecanoyl) perylene 3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylic acid bisanhydride, N, N’-bis-(dodecyl)-1, 7(6) - di (2-decyl 1-tetradecanoyl). Perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxy bisimide and N,N′-bis-((S)-(–)-1-phenylethyl)- 1,7(6)- di(2-decyl-1-tetradecanoyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxy bisimide). The final compounds were purified and characterized successfully (FTIR, UV-vis, NMR, MS, Emission spectroscopies and elemental analysis.The electrochemical properties of the compounds were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Additionally, the thermal stability of the compounds was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The adsorption behavior of dye molecules with various anchoring groups on the surface of TiO2 were investigated via FT-IR and solid state UV-Vis spectroscopies also in this work.