Abstract
ABSTRACTThis study focuses on understanding the fundamentals of energy transfer and electron transport in photovoltaic devices with uniquely designed nanostructures by analysing energy transfer in purple photosynthetic bacteria using dye-sensitised solar cell systems. Förster resonance energy transfer between the xanthene dye (donor of energy) and a new polymethine dye (acceptor of energy) was studied in dye-sensitised solar cells, which leads to a doubling of energy conversion efficiency in comparison to the cell with only the polymethine dye. The electron transport in the two different nanostructures of zinc oxide (nanorods and nanosheets) was investigated by spectroscopic methods (UV-vis spectrometer, time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy) and electrochemical potentiostat methods. The nanosheet structure of zinc oxide showed high short circuit current and long diffusion length. This fundamental study will lead to efficient artificial photosystem designs.
Highlights
Commercialisation of solar cells requires efficiency, stability, cost effectiveness and material availability
dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) is a special type of the solar cells and demonstrates power conversion efficiency up to 13%, the availability of Ru-dyes and the stability of liquid-based electrolytes are still the main concerns when developing this type of solar cell [9,10,11,12,13,14]
The two types of artificial mimicked photosystem were built and explored to understand F€orster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-energy transfer and electron transport properties based on the model of DSSC, respectively
Summary
Commercialisation of solar cells requires efficiency, stability, cost effectiveness and material availability. A solar cell which could fulfil all these criteria still requires improvement of the existing technology and the development of new pathways by alternative mechanisms for solar energy conversion [1,2,3,4]. One promising area is the dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC), which utilises a Ru-dye similar to plant chlorophyll, and applies a self-assembly principle, which reduces process costs [5,6,7,8]. DSSC is a special type of the solar cells and demonstrates power conversion efficiency up to 13%, the availability of Ru-dyes and the stability of liquid-based electrolytes are still the main concerns when developing this type of solar cell [9,10,11,12,13,14]
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