Impact of the position isomer of the linkage in the double D–A branch-based organic dyes on the photovoltaic performance

Three organic dyes with double D–A system were synthesized and applied in the dye-sensitized solar cells. These dyes contain phenothiazine as an electron donor and cyanoacetic acid as an acceptor/anchor. Linkages were incorporated at the ortho-, meta- and para-positions and their impact on the performance of photovoltaic was observed. Among them, the dye with a para-position linkage exhibited the highest short-circuit photocurrent density (12.26 mA cm −2 ) and open-circuit photovoltage (756 mV), leading to the best overall efficiency (6.14%) due to better light harvesting capacity under standard global 1.5 AM conditions. Under similar measuring conditions the dyes with ortho and meta-position linkage delivered sunlight to electricity conversion efficiencies of 5.25% and 5.85% respectively. The result shows the position isomer of the linkage units influences the photophysical characteristics, dye loading on the film and electron lifetime .