A structurally simple perylene dye with ethynylbenzothiadiazole-benzoic acid as the electron acceptor achieves an over 10% power conversion efficiency

On the basis of the N-annulated perylene electron donor and the ethynylbenzothiadiazole-benzoic acid electron acceptor, we herein report on synthesizing a structurally simple donor–acceptor (D–A) perylene dye C272. Without the use of any coadsorbate, we have achieved an impressive power conversion efficiency of 10.4% at air mass global (AM1.5G) conditions, which is comparable to that of the well-known zinc porphyrin dye YD2-o-C8.