Photovoltaic and nonlinear optical studies of a few Donor-π-Acceptor molecules with s-triazine core

Abstract

The thesis entitled “Photovoltaic and nonlinear optical studies of a few Donor-π-Acceptor molecules with s-triazine core” embodies the results of the investigations carried out to study unsymmetrically substituted s-Triazine cored starburst donor – acceptor systems with a bipodal acceptor/anchoring group design. The thesis opens with a review on the application of organic donor-acceptor systems in photovoltaics with special emphasis on applications in dye sensitised solar cells. The review also briefly discusses the application of such systems in the development of nonlinear optical materials.The unique structure of s-triazine do not permit direct coupling between the donor and acceptor moieties and this has been used as an effective tool for tuning HOMO and LUMO energy levels of such donor acceptor molecules. The effect of nature of the -bridge and the acceptor groups on the photovoltaic properties was studied and the results are presented in chapters 2, 3 and 4. Among the three types of -bridges studied, thiophene served as the best in terms of improving absorption spectral properties. Thiophene bridged dyes (DTT-CYA, DTT-RHA, DTT-BA and DTT-TBA) showed better coverage of the solar spectrum. Photovoltaic properties of these dyes were studied by constructing sandwhich model dye sensitized solar cells with nanocryasalline thin film of TiO2 on FTO coated with the respective dye as the photoanode, I-/I3- and Br-/Br3- as the redox couple/electrolyte and a platinized FTO as the cathode. The cell parameters and the photoconversion efficiency calculated show that the thiophene bridged dyes when used with Br-/Br3- as the redox couple/electrolyte have the optimal performance