Predictive study, using density functional theory and time dependent functional theory, on the structure-property quantification of methylene blue and methyl red dyes for the application in organic solar cells

Abstract

In this work, two organic materials as dyes, namely, methylene blue (MB) and methyl red (MR), have been proposed to play the role of the electron donor in organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. We use the PCBM as a well-known electron acceptor. The density functional theory (DFT) method has been used to determine the electrostatic potential and the frontier molecular orbitals (FMO), of the methylene blue (MB) and the methyl red (MR) compounds. Nonlinear optical (NLO) descriptors have been determined for the two compounds. The potential energy surface analysis has been performed by the DFT method using the exchange and correlation of Becke, Lee, Yang, and Parr Gradient Corrected Functional (B3LYP) with the standard 6-31G(d) base. We have performed another theoretical study using quantum time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) on both MB and MR as organic dyes to determine their UV-Vis spectra. The results of the energy gap, chemical hardness, dipole moment, and hyperpolarizability show that MB may be chemically more reactive Than MR. The present work has proposed a bilayer organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell to contribute to the valorization of the two dyes as solar materials. The developed photovoltaic cell project has used electrical and energetic parameters that can describe the OPV cell based on ([MB or MR]: PCBM). Open-circuit voltage (Voc), excitation energy, and oscillator strength have been theoretically determined. The results of the present work showed a remarkably high open circuit voltage, especially in the case of methyl red (1.55 V) more than in the case of the methylene blue (0.84 V) so that both of the two dyes can be a good candidate for organic solar cells.