Engineering tetrazole-anchored azo sensitizers for enhanced charge transfer and photovoltaic performance in dye-sensitized solar cells


Yurdakul E. B., Adak E., Ozel K., Atilgan A., Akdogan N., Erdogdu Y., ...Daha Fazla

Engineering Research Express, cilt.8, sa.13, ss.1-39, 2026 (ESCI)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 8 Sayı: 13
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1088/2631-8695/ae7d8c
  • Dergi Adı: Engineering Research Express
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-39
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Abstract Herein, we report the design and comprehensive investigation of a series of tetrazole-anchored azo dyes (O1Y-O4Y) to elucidate the role of donor substituents in governing interfacial chargetransfer processes in DSSCs. Combined experimental characterization and DFT/TD-DFT analyses reveal that tetrazole anchoring significantly strengthens electronic coupling with TiO₂, enabling highly favorable electron injection (ΔG inject = -1.34 to -1.39 eV) while effectively suppressing recombination. Among the series, the thioether-substituted O1Y dye delivers superior performance (JSC = 4.59 mA cm -2 , PCE = 1.75%), whereas halogen-substituted analogues exhibit diminished efficiency due to unfavorable energetic alignment and increased reorganization losses. Notably, O1Y achieves a 316% enhancement in efficiency relative to its nitrile-anchored counterpart. These findings establish anchoring-group engineering as a decisive strategy for modulating interfacial energetics and advancing the performance of DSSCs beyond conventional molecular design approaches.