title: Phenothiazinyl rhodanylidene merocyanines for dye-sensitized solar cells.
abstract: Phenothiazinyl rhodanylidene acetic acid merocyanine dyes with variable substitution pattern on the peripheral benzene ring were synthesized in good to excellent yields by Knoevenagel condensation of the corresponding phenothiazinyl aldehydes and rhodanine-N-acetic acid. The electronic properties were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, absorption, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Electron releasing substitution leads to an appreciable lowering of the oxidation potential, bathochromic shift of the absorption band, and minimization of the emission quantum yield. Not least as a consequence of these properties, the compounds are interesting for use as chromophores in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). DSSCs were constructed and successfully tested by determining the characteristic parameters such as incident-photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE), fill factor (FF), and overall efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Organische Chemie und Makromolekulare Chemie, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätstrasse 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ogermann
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pankrath
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kleinermanns
authors.forename: Thomas J J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Müller