Near-Infrared Absorbing Merocyanine Dyes for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract

A series of near-infrared absorbing merocyanine dyes bearing the strong electron-accepting 2-oxo-5-dicyanomethylene-pyrrolidine unit was synthesized and applied in combination with PC(61)BM and PC(71)BM in solution-processed photoactive layers of bulk heterojunction solar cells, exhibiting a remarkable performance range with power conversion efficiencies from 0.01% to 1.00%.