Novel D–π–A dye sensitizers of polymeric metal complexes with triphenylamine derivatives as donor for dye-sensitized solar cells: synthesis, characterization and application

Because of being the key component of dye-sensitized solar cells and acting as an important role, dye sensitizer and its synthesis and application has been extensively researched. In this paper, four novel polymeric metal complexes with D–π–A structure that use 4-(octyloxymethyl)-N,N-diphenylbenzenamine as donor group (D), C =N bond as a π-conjugation linkage (π), and transition metal complexes as an acceptor (A), were functionally designed and synthesized. All the four polymeric metal complexes exhibited some photovoltaic performance, the highest photoelectric conversion efficiency of compound P4 reached 1.09% (Jsc = 2.55 mA cm−2, Voc = 0.61 V and FF = 70.14%) under simulate AM 1.5 G solar irradiation. A new path for the synthesis and study of the dye sensitizer was provided.