Abstract
Two novel trialkylsilyl-containing organic sensitizers (
JK-53 and
JK-54) have been designed and synthesized. Nanocrystalline TiO
2–silica-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using these dyes. Under standard global AM 1.5 solar conditions, the
JK-53-sensitized cell gave a short-circuit photocurrent density (
J
sc) of 6.37
mA
cm
−2, an open-circuit voltage (
V
oc) of 0.70
V, and a fill factor of 0.74. These values correspond to an overall conversion efficiency (
η) of 3.31%. By comparison, the
JK-54-sensitized cell resulted in a
J
sc of 7.52
mA
cm
−2, a
V
oc of 0.71
V, and a fill factor of 0.75. These values give an overall conversion efficiency of 4.01%.