Electronic and optical properties of metalloporphyrins of zinc on TiO2 cluster in dye-sensitized solar-cells (DSSC). A quantum chemistry study

© 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Dye-sensitized solar-cell (DSSC) systems have been investigated by calculating light-absorption and electron-injection processes of the LD13 ([5,15-bis(2,6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-phenyl)-10-4-dimethylaminophenylethynyl-20-4-carboxy phenylethynyl porphyrinato]zinc-(ii)) and YD2-o-C8 ([5,15-bis(2,6-dioctoxyphenyl)-10-(bis(4-hexylphenyl)amino-20-4-carboxyphenylethynyl)porphyrinato]zinc-(ii)) dyes adsorbed on a TiO2 cluster simulating the semiconductor. The binding energy of the dyes with the TiO2 clusters has been calculated at the density functional theory (DFT) level using the B3LYP and CAM-B3LYP functionals. The electronic excitation energies have been calculated at the time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) level for the dyes in the gas and solvent phase employing the B3LYP, CAM-B3LYP and BHLYP functionals. The calculated excitation energies have been compared to values obtained at the algebraic diagrammatic construction through second order (ADC(2)) level of