Role of Pristine and Acid-Functionalized Fullerene on Breaking Dye Aggregates and its Impact on the Efficiency of Solar Cells

2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 819
Author(s):  
Syed Mujtaba Shah ◽  
Zafar Iqbal ◽  
Muzaffar Iqbal ◽  
Naila Shahzad ◽  
Amina Hana ◽  
...  

Porphyrin dyes have an inherent tendency to aggregate. This leads to a self-quenching phenomenon that hinders electron transfer to the conduction band of semiconductors in dye-sensitized solar cells. Self-quenching adversely affects the efficiency of solar cells. Here, we report the interaction of porphyrin with pristine and acid-functionalized fullerene molecules on the surface of ZnO nanoparticles under chemisorbed conditions. Chemisorption of porphyrin only on ZnO nanoparticles instigates aggregation of the porphyrin molecules. These aggregates can be effectively broken by chemisorbing fullerene molecules on the surface of the ZnO nanoparticles. This is due to self-assembly formation processes because of porphyrin–fullerene interactions. The nanohybrid material, consisting of ZnO nanorods, acid-functionalized porphyrin, and fullerene derivatives, was characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The material generates better performing dye-sensitized solar cells when compared with those fabricated from porphyrin-based photo-active material.

2017 ◽  
Vol 877 ◽  
pp. 012023
Author(s):  
A Aprilia ◽  
A Erdienzy ◽  
A Bahtiar ◽  
L Safriani ◽  
N Syakir ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (23) ◽  
pp. 17414-17420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Huang ◽  
Yuanyao Dou ◽  
Kai Wan ◽  
Fang Wu ◽  
Liang Fang ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Lucia Pinto ◽  
Luis Cruz ◽  
Vânia Gomes ◽  
Hugo Cruz ◽  
Giuseppe Calogero ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (13) ◽  
pp. 4345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiu Wang ◽  
Ran Deng ◽  
Sneha A. Kulkarni ◽  
Xiaoyan Wang ◽  
Stevin Snellius Pramana ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 246 ◽  
pp. 236-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Chindeka ◽  
Philani Mashazi ◽  
Jonathan Britton ◽  
Gertrude Fomo ◽  
David O. Oluwole ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 206 ◽  
pp. 12-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sekar Ramkumar ◽  
Jaime Llanos ◽  
Darío Espinoza ◽  
Paulraj Manidurai

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trystan Watson ◽  
Cecile Charbonneau ◽  
Daniel Bryant ◽  
David Worsley

In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) scattering layers are used to increase the path length of light incident on the TiO2film. This is typically achieved by the deposition of an additional TiO2layer on top of an existing transparent film and designed to trap light. In this work we show that a simple acid pretreatment can lead to the formation of a scattering “skin” on the surface of a single TiO2film performing a similar function to a scattering layer without any additional depositions. This is important in increasing manufacturing throughput for DSCs as further TiO2depositions require additional materials and heat treatment. The pretreatment leads to self-assembly of a scattering layer of TiO2which covers the surface on short-term immersion (<30 min) and penetrates the bulk layer upon longer immersion. The method has been shown to increase the efficiency of the device by 20%.


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