Synthesis, characterization and electrochemistry of novel unsymmetrical zinc phthalocyanines sensitizer with extended conjugation

Synthesis and structural characterization of peripherally polar substituent zinc phthalocyanine, based on extended pi-conjugation concept, were carried out for efficient far-red/near-IR performance in nanocrystalline TiO2 films. The new compounds were characterized using FTIR, UV-Vis, fluorescence spectroscopies, H-1 NMR, cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry and elemental analysis. From the reduction and oxidation behavior, it is proved that PPC and QPC have negative LUMO levels and positive HOMO levels, satisfying the energy gap rule, PPC and QPC can be employed as sensitizers for DSSC applications. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.