A series of organic dyes containing oligo-phenothiazine were synthesized and used effectively on the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In these compounds the phenothiazine moiety functions both as an electron donor and as a p-bridge. These materials exhibit considerably high values of open-circuit voltage (V oc ) ranging from 0.78-0.83 V under an AM1.5 solar condition (100 mW cm À2 ). Two kinds of substituents, i.e., hexyl and hexyloxyphenyl groups, were added onto the N(10) of phenothiazine for comparison. The best device displayed a short-circuit current (J sc ) of 14.3 mA cm À2 , an open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of 0.83 V, a fill factor (FF) of 0.65, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 7.78%. Their photophysical properties were analyzed with the aid of a time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) model with the B3LYP functional. The electronic nature of the devices was further elucidated by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
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