Abstract
Chlorophyll a derivatives were integrated in “all solid-state” dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with a mesoporous TiO2 electrode and 2′,2′,7,7′-tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9′-spirobifluorene as the hole-transport material. Despite modest power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) between 0.26% and 0.55% achieved for these chlorin dyes, a systematic investigation was carried out in order to elucidate their main limitations. To provide a comprehensive understanding of the parameters (structure, nature of the anchoring group, adsorption …) and their relationship with the PCEs, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, optical and photovoltaic studies and electron paramagnetic resonance analysis exploiting the 4-carboxy-TEMPO spin probe were combined. The recombination kinetics, the frontier molecular orbitals of these DSSCs and the adsorption efficiency onto the TiO2 surface were found to be the key parameters that govern their photovoltaic response.
Highlights
Fossil fuel resource exhaustion, increasing energy demands and environmental problems have triggered an intensification of research for sustainable energy sources, which lead to the development of photovoltaic devices, fuel cells, wind turbines, etc
The chemical structures of chlorophyll a-based dye sensitizers depicted in Scheme 1 were obtained from methyl pyropheophorbide-a (MPPa)
Three families of corresponding free-base and zinc chlorins can be distinguished zinc chlorins be distinguished the localization of the anchoring group. acid
Summary
Fossil fuel resource exhaustion, increasing energy demands and environmental problems have triggered an intensification of research for sustainable energy sources, which lead to the development of photovoltaic devices, fuel cells, wind turbines, etc. Photovoltaic conversion of solar energy is considered to be one of the most significant ways of addressing the growing global energy crisis [1]. In this context, utilizing biomass resources for the conversion of solar energy has been receiving increasing attention from industry, academia and governments and will become a major challenge of Molecules 2020, 25, 198; doi:10.3390/molecules25010198 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules. Calvin showed through a model based on a photosynthetic electron transport system containing membranes, carotenoids and pigments that electric energy can be obtained by conversion of sunlight [10]. A similar approach based on an artificial photosynthesis led in 1991 to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs, known as Grätzel cells) [11]. A DSSC consists of a mesoporous nanocrystalline n-type semiconductor (typically TiO2 )
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