Construction of tailored, donor-acceptor heterocyclic compounds for solar energy conversion

Heterocyclic compounds have found extensive application as active components in optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices, either as light-harvesting or charge carrier-transporting materials. In recent years, our research group focused on the design and synthesis of donor-acceptor, conjugated organic compounds endowed with a wide array of heterocyclic moieties, and investigated their use in various solar energy conversion technologies, such as dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells, photocatalytic systems for hydrogen production and luminescent solar concentrators. In this communication, we will present some selected examples of our activity, illustrating the logic behind the rational design of the compounds and describing the synthetic strategies followed for their preparation, mostly based on the assembly of molecular "jigsaw pieces" by cross-coupling reactions and direct arylation procedures. Finally, we will discuss the relationship between the compounds spectroscopic and electrochemical properties and the performances of the corresponding solar-powered devices.