Abstract
A novel Ru(ii) complex, denoted as IA-7, incorporating a bulky donor antenna, was synthesized and characterized as a promising inexpensive alternative to conventional p–n junction solar cells to study the influence of a bulky donor antenna on the light harvesting efficiency (LHE), ground and excited state oxidation potentials and total conversion efficiency of sunlight to electricity (% η) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and the device performance was compared to devices with MH-12 and MH-13 dyes. The incorporation of the bulky donor enriched triphenylamine (TPA) antenna resulted in a considerable increase in JSC and η values for DSSCs, where IA-7 outperformed MH-12 and MH-13 in terms of the total conversion efficiency and achieved a power conversion efficiency (η) of 8.86% under full sunlight irradiation (100 mW cm−2), compared to 8.09% for MH-12 and 8.53% for MH-13, which can be ascribed to the high open circuit voltage (VOC) of IA-7. Molecular engineering utilizing DFT/TD-DFT was employed to calculate the electronic properties of IA-7, including the HOMO/LUMO isosurfaces, the lowest singlet–singlet electronic transitions (E0–0), and the ground and excited state oxidation potentials, which were in ideal agreement with the empirical results. The electronic distribution of IA-7 indicated that the HOMO is delocalized not only on Ru and NCS, but also on the substituted TPA, and the LUMO is delocalized over 4,4′-bipyridyl dicarboxylic acid.
Highlights
One of the huge difficulties that mankind faces is exchanging petroleum derivatives with sustainable power sources, while combating the growing energy requirements and exhaustion of energy resources
dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have numerous advantages compared to silicon-based solar cells, including transparency, low cost, and high-power conversion efficiencies under low light aDepartment of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Aswan University, Aswan, 81528, Egypt bPolymer and Color Chemistry Program, Department of TECS, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, 27606, USA
The results indicate that dye IA-7 achieved a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.86% (JSC 1⁄4 22.60 mA.cmÀ2, VOC 1⁄4 0.71 V, and FF 1⁄4 56.19) compared to the PCE of 8.09% (JSC 1⁄4 20.23 mA.cmÀ2, VOC 1⁄4 0.65 V, and FF 1⁄4 56.39) for MH-12 and PCE of 8.53% (JSC 1⁄4 22.97 mA.cmÀ2, VOC 1⁄4 0.66 V, and FF 1⁄4 56.41) for MH-13
Summary
One of the huge difficulties that mankind faces is exchanging petroleum derivatives with sustainable power sources, while combating the growing energy requirements and exhaustion of energy resources. This challenge must be answered with lowcost, clean and generously available crude materials. Harvesting solar energy with photovoltaic innovations gives the impression of being the main logical response to the energy challenge. DSSCs have attracted all-inclusive academic and business interest because of their extraordinary performance under diffuse light conditions and low illumination levels, and their independence of the incident light angle.[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] DSSCs have numerous advantages compared to silicon-based solar cells, including transparency, low cost, and high-power conversion efficiencies under low light
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