Syntheses and photovoltaic properties of polymeric sensitizers using thiophene-based copolymer derivatives for dye-sensitized solar cells

We synthesized the thiophene-based copolymers (P(3TAF-co-3TAa)-A-n and P(3TAF-co-3TAa)-B-n) using two different kinds of thiophene monomers, (N-(3-thienylmethylene)-2-aminofluorene and 3-thiophene acetic acid), as sensitizers on the DSSCs. P(3TAF-co-3TAa)-A-n (n=1, 2, 3) was synthesized with different molar ratios (3TAF:3TAa=1:5, 1:10, 1:20) of monomers at room temperature, respectively. Also, P(3TAF-co-3TAa)-B-n (n=1, 2, 3) was synthesized with above molar ratios of monomers at 0 °C, respectively. The DSSCs devices were fabricated using the thiophene-based copolymers as sensitizers and their photovoltaic performances were measured by using a solar simulator under AM 1.5. In the DSSCs devices using polymeric sensitizers, Voc is 0.53–0.60 V, Jsc is 1.9–4.5 mA/cm2, FF is 0.51–0.63 and the power conversion efficiency is 0.63–1.53%, respectively.