Phosphonic anchoring groups in organic dyes for solid-state solar cells

We report the synthesis and the optoelectronic characterization of three new 4H-pyran-4-ylidene and thiazole derivatives (pyt) as metal-free organic dyes for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). We investigate the performance and the long-term stability of devices employing pyt dyes functionalized with carboxylic and phosphonic acids as TiO2 anchoring groups. In contrast to reports on liquid electrolyte DSSCs, we show that …