Study of the influence of substituents on spectroscopic and photoelectric properties of zinc phthalocyanines

In this paper we describe conversion of light energy into electric energy in a photoelectrochemical cell containing zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) dyes. For all dyes investigated in liquid polyvinyl alcohol with dimethyl sulfoxide solution and located in the photoelectrochemical cell the following measurements have been done: absorption, fluorescence, photoacoustic spectra, photovoltaic spectra, kinetics of photocurrent and current–voltage characteristics. It has been shown that all dyes located in the photoelectrochemical cell are able to convert light into electric energy but with different effectiveness. The influence of substituted different peripheral groups to ZnPc core and the correlation between the molecular structure and effectiveness of solar to electric energy conversion were observed and described. The unique behavior of ZnPc substituted with fluorines was indicated.