SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES COMPARISON OF MESO-ARYLPORPHYRINS METAL COMPLEXES AS POTENTIAL DYES FOR SOLAR CELLS

Abstract

This work is dedicated to the synthesis of porphyrin metal complexes for creation of dyesensitized solar cells (DSSC). Three different dyes were synthesized - zinc complexes of porphyrins containing alkoxyl substituents: with symmetric structure (Zn-P1), as well as asymmetric (type A3B) with the introduction of a donor (Zn-P2) or an acceptor (Zn-P3) substituents via the 1,3,5-triazine fragment. The spectral characteristics of the synthesized substances are compared. For all the obtained dyes, geometry optimization and visualization of the electron density distribution were carried out using computational methods based on the density functional theory (DFT). The location of the frontier unbound molecular orbitals is more optimal when an acceptor substituent containing anchor groups is introduced via the triazine moiety. However, the use of ligands containing an anchor group simplifies the synthesis of the dye and opens up more possibilities for varying both the ligand and the introduced donor substituents. As a result, it was concluded that the spatial distribution of the dye, when applied to the electrode and, consequently, the number of its molecules per unit area of the semiconductor, can have the greatest effect on the efficiency of a cell using t he described compounds.

Keywords

• synthesis
• porphyrins
• metal complexes
• dyes
• photovoltaics
• density functional theory (dft)