Studies on the Photovoltaic and Metal ion binding Properties of a few Heterocyclic donor-π-acceptor systems

Abstract

Organic molecules with π-conjugated scaffolds end-capped with electron donor and acceptor groups are widely investigated due to their immense application potentials and hence belong to a promising area of organic chemistry. Donor-acceptor materials have found wide variety of applications such as dyes in dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs), organic photovoltaics, organic light emitting diodes, nonlinear optical devices, chemosensors, diagnostic probes and as therapeutic agents. Despite their use in such a wide range of applications, many fundamental properties of donor acceptor materials are still poorly understood. Even simple structural modifications can bring unexpected electronic and photophysical properties and wider understanding of the interaction between donor and acceptor is thus required. Furthermore, many such systems show diversity in properties in solution state or in their condensed state such as crystalline or amorphous forms. For example, some of these molecules show aggregation induced quenching or enhancement in emission in the solid state. Thus, structural motifs that facilitate intermolecular interaction via hydrophobic association, hydrogen bonding or electrostatic effects can lead to excellent control over their supramolecular functions. Some of the important structural types which used as donors are triarylamines, carbazoles, phenothiazine, fluorenes, thiophenes, and oligothiophenes. Strongly electron withdrawing groups or electron deficient heterocyclic systems such as oxadiazoles, diarylborons, quinolines, quinoxalines, thienopyrazines, and benzothiadiazoles, cyanoacetic acid, rhodanine-3-acetic acid, barbituric acid, and thiobarbituric acid etc., have been used as the acceptors in the design of donor-acceptor systems.