Effects of donor and acceptor on optoelectronic performance for porphyrin derivatives: Nonlinear optical properties and dye-sensitized solar cells

Typical asymmetric donor-π-bridge-acceptor(D-π-A) zinc porphyrin dyes have been synthesized, and further modified by reacting the ethynyl groups of them with click reagent through a formal [2+2] click reaction. The electronic interaction between the push and pull electronic groups and the click reaction process were investigated by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The nonlinear optical(NLO) properties of the dyes were studied by the Z-scan technique and clearly reverse saturable absorption to saturable absorption(RSA-SA) transition could be observed through click reaction of the dyes with TCNE. Furthermore, the photovoltaic properties of these porphyrin dyes were reasonably explained by the J-V curve fitting based on the equivalent-circuit model as well as the comparison between the absorption and incident-photon-to-current-conversion efficiency(IPCE) spectra. Besides, these dyes with different donors or acceptors could self-assembly into different microstructures by phase transfer methodology.