Functionalized Dendritic Oligothiophenes: Ruthenium Phthalocyanine Complexes and Their Application in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract

Within the present work, two series of novel ruthenium(II) phthalocyanine (RuPc) complexes with one [RuPcCOPy-nT] or two [RuPc(Py-nT)2] dendritic oligothiophene (DOT) ligands in the axial positions are reported. The ability of RuII for axial coordination in RuPcs allowed the attachment of the Pc through the metal site to the DOT-ligands bearing pyridine at the core position of the dendrons. These extended pyridine functionalized conjugated DOT-ligands (Py-nT) were chosen to cover the spectral window between 380 and 550 nm, where the RuPc does not exhibit a strong absorption, in order to improve the light-absorption of these complexes and hence enhance the efficiency of the corresponding solar cells. Good efficiencies of up to 1.6% have been achieved when blended together with a fullerene acceptor in solution-processed photovoltaic devices, providing by far the best phthalocyanine-based bulk heterojunction solar cells reported to-date.