Flexible zinc oxide solar cells sensitized by styryl dyes

Application of a series of styryl dyes for flexible zinc oxide solar cells prepared by the one-step cathode deposition template method was examined. 3-(2-Carboxyethyl)-2-[4-(dimethylamino)styryl]benzothiazolium iodide (27) showed the best performance as the sensitizer. The incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) at around 490 nm, maximum short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc), open-circuit photovoltage (Voc), fill factor (ff), and solar-light-to-electricity conversion efficiency (η) were observed to be 54.5%, 6.22 mA cm−2, 0.53 V, 0.59, and 1.94%, respectively.