Novel D-π-A organic sensitizers containing diarylmethylene-bridged triphenylamine and different spacers for solar cell application

Three novel D-π-A organic dyes containing diarylmethylene-bridged triphenylamine as the donor moiety, cyanoacrylic acid as the acceptor, and thiophene, benzene or furan as the π-spacers were synthesized. Dyes with furan and thiophene linkages show better planarization and electron delocalization compared to the benzene linkage. The furan unit as π-spacer provides the highest power conversion efficiency of 3.81%.69