A Novel Alkoxysilyl Azobenzene Dye Photosensitizer with Alkylamino Group for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

摘要

A newly designed alkoxysilyl azobenzene dye with alkylamino group, 4-diethoxyphenylsilyl-4'-dimethylaminoazobenzene, was synthesized and examined as the photosensitizer for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The novel azobenzene dye exhibited a strong absorption band in the visible region, and the solar cell using the dye as the sensitizer showed an incident monochromatic photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) value of 66 % at 440 nm and a light-to-electric energy conversion efficiency of 2.2 % under simulated sunlight irradiation of AM-1.5G one sun condition. The energy conversion efficiency obtained here is the highest value among those reported so far for azobenzene-sensitized solar cells, indicating the potential of alkoxysilyl dyes as photosensitizers for DSSCs.