Abstract Three novel triphenylamine-based DA-π-A-featured dyes (Z1–Z3) have been designed, synthesized and characterized for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. Benzothiazole was incorporated as an additional acceptor, which greatly enhanced the molar extinction coefficient of the dyes. Various conjugated linkers, such as benzene, furan and thiophene, were also introduced to configure the novel DA-π-A framework in order to prolong electron ...
