Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have emerged as a promising technology for converting sunlight into electricity at a low cost; however, it is still necessary to find a photostable, low-cost, and efficient photosensitizer. In this sense, the natural product bixin (
Dye 1)
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Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have emerged as a promising technology for converting sunlight into electricity at a low cost; however, it is still necessary to find a photostable, low-cost, and efficient photosensitizer. In this sense, the natural product bixin (
Dye 1) has previously been reported as a potential photosensitizer. Thus, the present work reports the full synthesis of diester and diacid hybrids (
Dyes 2 and
3, respectively, with corresponding yields of 93% and 52%) using the natural product bixin as a starting material and 1,3,4-oxadiazole ring as a connected point. The hydrolysis step of
Dye 2 aims to obtain
Dye 3 with a structural capacity to anchor the titanium dioxide (TiO
2) nanofilms via the carboxylic acid group. Both compounds (
Dyes 1 and
3) can be adsorbed via pseudo-first order on the surface of TiO
2 nanofilms, reaching saturation after 10 and 6 min of exposure in an organic solution (1 × 10
−5 M), respectively, with adsorption kinetics of the semisynthetic compound almost twofold higher than the natural product. Contrary to expectations,
Dye 3 had spectral behavior similar to
Dye 1, but with better frontier molecular orbital (FMO) parameters, indicating that
Dye 3 will probably behave very similarly or have slightly better photovoltaic performance than
Dye 1 in future DSSC measurements.
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