NIR SENSITIZERS FOR DYE SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS - HEPTAMETHINE DYES WITH A GREAT SPECTRAL DIVERSITY ABOVE 700 NM

摘要

The company Solaronix and Empa focus on the development of new unsymmetrical heptamethine dyes for application in dye sensitized solar cells. Because of their out-standing physical properties (e.g. high extinction coefficient and absorption maximum above 700 nm), these dyes are very promising NIR sensitizers. By skillful combination of different heterocycles and dianil derivatives, it is possible to synthesize and characterize various functionalized unsymmetrical heptamethine dyes. Furthermore, the efficiency of industrial dye sensitized solar cells prepared with such sensitizers is up to 1.3%. Remarkably, dye sensitized solar cells with heptamethine dyes, which solely absorb light in the NIR, appear in light yellow, the color of the electrolyte.