Monobenzoporphyrins as Sensitizers for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Observation of Significant Spacer-Group Effect

A series of monobenzoporphyrins (WH1–WH4) bearing different conjugated spacer groups were designed and synthesized as sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells. Although a phenyl spacer only has a minimal impact on the absorption bands of the monobenzoporphyrin, an ethynylphenyl (WH3) or a vinyl (WH4) spacer redshifts and broadens the absorption bands of the dyes to result in much enhanced light-harvesting ability. Dye-sensitized solar cells based on these monobenzoporphyrin dyes displayed remarkable differences in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). The monobenzoporphyrin bearing no spacer (WH1) resulted in a PCE of only 0.5 %; in contrast, the monobenzoporphyrin bearing vinyl spacers (WH4) achieved a PCE of 5.2 %. The high efficiency of the WH4 cell is attributed to the higher light-harvesting ability, the lesser extent of aggregation on the TiO2 surface, and the more favorable electron-density distributions of the HOMO and LUMO for electron injection and collection. This work demonstrates the exceptional tunability of benzoporphyrins as sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells.