First-principles study of Carbz-PAHTDDT dye sensitizer and two Carbz-derived dyes for dye sensitized solar cells.

Two new carbazole-based organic dye sensitizers are designed and investigated in silico. These dyes are designed through chemical modifications of the π-conjugated bridge of a reference organic sensitizer known as Carbz-PAHTDDT (S9) dye. The aim of designing these dyes was to reduce the energy gap between their highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and to red-shift their absorption response compared to those of the reference S9 dye sensitizer. This reference dye has a reported promising efficiency when coupled with ferrocene-based electrolyte composition. To investigate geometric and electronic structure, density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations were conducted on the new dyes as well as the reference dye. The present study indicated that the long-range correction to the theoretical model in the TD-DFT simulation is important to produce accurate absorption wavelengths. The theoretical studies have shown a reduced HOMO-LUMO gap and red-shifted absorption spectra for both of the new candidate dyes. In particular, the new S9-D1 dye is found to have significant reduced HOMO–LUMO energy gap, greater push–pull character and higher wavelengths of absorption when compared to the reference dye. Such findings suggest that the new dyes are promising and suitable for optoelectronic applications.