Fabrication of a dye sensitized solar cell using TiO2 sensitized with a mono-carbonyl curcumin analog

Dye sensitized solar cell has been shown to be a promising technology for energy conversion. It presented in composition a scaffold material, an electrolyte, a counter electrode and a photosensiting molecule. Due to the costs of the most applied ruthenium-organic material, new compounds are synthesized with the aim of reducing costs. This work describes the synthesis and application of (E)-4-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl) but-3-en-2-one (1), a monocarbonyl analog of curcumin, as a photosensiting material in a photovoltaic system. Devices were prepared using TiO₂ as scaffold material sensitized with compound 1, graphene as a counter electrode, and I⁻/I₃⁻ as an electrolyte. The results showed the possibility of using new organic materials, providing an efficient device in energy conversion, with parameters of J_sc = 0.31 mA cm⁻²; V_oc = 0.54 V, FF = 0.47, PCE = 0.07% and \(\tau_{n}\) = 0.637 s.