The effects of second electron acceptor group on the performance of tetrazole-based nanocrystalline TiO sensitizers in DSSCs.

Three new organic sensitizers with two electron acceptor groups were synthesized and applied to nanocrystalline TiO solar cells. The ethyl 2-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl) acetate, (2H-tetrazol-5-yl) acrylonitrile and 1H-tetrazole-5-acetic acid moieties were introduced to the triphenylamine as electron acceptor groups. The photophysical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties of the solar cells based on the synthesized sensitizers were studied and compared with their counterparts of single electron acceptor type.