Molecular Engineering of a New Organic Chromophore with D-Ï€-A Architecture for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Herein, we report design and synthesis of a new metal-free organic dye N<inf>1</inf> derived from (Z)-3-(9-hexyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-2-(thiophen-2-yl) acrylonitrile scaffold. In this design, the electron rich carbazole unit is connected to rhodanine-3-acetic acid via cyano vinyl thiophene as π-spacer. Its molecular structure was confirmed by FTIR, NMR, Mass spectral and elemental analyses. The dye was subjected to optical and electrochemical studies in order to investigate their absorption/emission behaviour as well as HOMO/LUMO energies. The DFT studies were performed using Turbomole 7.1V software and the results indicated the existence of proper charge separation between its HOMO and LUMO energy levels. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.