Efficient sensitization of nanocrystalline TiO2 films by a near-IR-absorbing unsymmetrical zinc phthalocyanine

Abstract

(Chemical Equation Presented) Pushing and pulling by three tert-butyl and two carboxylic acid groups, respectively, results in a sensitizer (see picture) that exhibits an incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency of 75 %. A cell sensitized with this compound gives a short-circuit photocurrent density of (6.50 ± 0.20) mA cm-2, an open-circuit voltage of (635 ± 30) mV, and a fill factor of 0.74 ± 0.03, which corresponds to an overall conversion efficiency of 3.05 %. © 2007 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.