Long-lived photoinduced charge separation for solar cell applications in phthalocyanine-fulleropyrrolidine dyad thin films

The photophysical properties of a new dyad molecule composed of a covalently linked Zn-phthalocyanine (antenna/donor) and a C-60 derivative (acceptor) have been investigated. We report experimental evidence of long-lived charge separation in the solid state with a lifetime several orders of magnitude higher than in solution. Such a long lifetime, unusual for phthalocyanine-fullerene dyads, is the basis for possible photovoltaic applications. A first demonstration of a working solar cell using phthalocyanine-fullerene dyads as the active material is presented. Though the power conversion efficiency under simulated solar illumination of 80 mW cm(-2) is found to be moderate (0.02%), it is an encouraging result for application of C-60 dyad molecules to photovoltaics.