Effect of substituents moiety in organic sensitiser based on carbazole on the performance of nanostructure dye-sensitised solar cells

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 292-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamaladin Gharanjig ◽  
Mozhgan Hosseinnezhad

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to prepare new organic dyes and use them as sensitisers in dye-sensitised solar cells. These dyes were synthesised and purified and then characterised by analytical techniques. Spectrophotometric evaluations of the prepared dyes were carried out in solution and on a nano-anatase TiO2 substrate to assess the possible changes in the status of the dyes in different environments. Finally, the photovoltaic properties were investigated in dye-sensitised solar cells. Design/methodology/approach – So as to synthesise dyes, N-substituents carbazole were utilised as the fundamental electron donor group and cyanoacrylic acid or acrylic acid as electron acceptor anchoring groups. Purified dyes were dissolved in solution and coated on TiO2 substrate. Finally, dye-sensitised solar cells were fabricated to determine the photovoltaic behaviour and conversion efficiency of each individual dye. Findings – The results showed that the dyes form j-type aggregates on the nano TiO2. The oxidation potential of synthesised carbazole dyes is > 0.2 V vs Fc/Fc+; hence, their high performance in dye-sensitised solar cells. Dye 3 exhibited 2.11 per cent of conversion efficiency in comparison to 2.89 per cent for the identical cells with Dye 9 containing cyanoacrylic acid which acted as the best acceptor group. Practical implications – The novel dyes look as promising as highly light fast, efficient dyes for dye-sensitised solar cells. Social implications – Organic dye provides low cost and less hazardous materials for dye-sensitised solar cells. Originality/value – A series of new organic dyes were synthesised as sensitisers for dye-sensitised solar cells for the first time.

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 234-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mozhgan Hosseinnezhad

Purpose Dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted a great deal of interest. Dye molecules are key materials in DSSCs that produce electrons. This study reports on synthesis of the organic dyes and investigation their performance in DSSCs. Design/methodology/approach A series of new organic dyes were prepared using double rhodanine as the fundamental electron-acceptor group and aldehydes with varying substituents as the electron-donor groups. These dyes were first purified and then characterised by analytical techniques. DSSCs were fabricated to determine the photovoltaic behaviour and conversion efficiency of each individual dye. Findings Results demonstrated that all the dyes form j-type aggregates on the nano TiO2. All dyes in DSSC structure show suitable power conversion efficiency, and Dye 5 due to presence of OCH3 and OiPr presents maximum conversion efficiency. Practical implications In the search for high-efficiency organic dyes for DSSCs, development of new materials offering optimised photochemical stabilities as well as suitable optical and electrical properties is importance. Social implications Organic dyes as photosensitisers are interesting due to low cost, relatively facile dye synthesis and capability of easy molecular tailoring. Originality/value A series of new organic metal-free dyes were prepared as sensitisers for DSSCs for the first time.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 393-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mozhgan Hosseinnezhad ◽  
Kamaladin Gharanjig

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study assembling parameters in dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) performance. For this end, 3a,7a-dihydroxy-5ß-cholanic acid (cheno) are selected as anti-aggregation agent and two solutions, namely, tetrabutyl ammonium iodide and (PMII)IL used as electrolyte. Design/methodology/approach A series of organic dyes were selected using N-substituents carbazole as electron donor group and acrylic acid and cyanoacrylic acid as electron acceptor groups. Absorption properties of purified dyes were studied in solution and on photoelectrode substrate. DSSCs were prepared in the presence of anti-aggregation agent and different electrolyte to determine the photovoltaic performance of each dyes. Findings The results showed that all organic dyes form J-aggregation on the photoanode substrate in the absence of anti-aggregation agent and the amounts of aggregation were reduced in the presence of anti-aggregation agent. DSSCs were fabricated in the presence of anti-aggregation agent. The photovoltaic properties were improved using tetrabutyl ammonium iodide as electrolyte. The maximum power conversion efficiency was achieved for D12 in the presence of cheno and tetrabutyl ammonium iodide as anti-aggregation agent and electrolyte, respectively. Social implications Organic dye attracts more and more attention due to low cost, facile route synthesis and less hazardous. Originality/value The effect of anti-aggregation agent and electrolyte on DSSCs performance was investigated for the first time.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 481-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mozhgan Hosseinnezhad ◽  
Hanieh Shaki

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the substituent effect in dye-sensitized solar cells’ (DSSCs) performance. For this end, three new metal organic dyes with DPA structure were synthesized. For investigation of the substituent effect, two different anchoring groups, namely, 1,3-dioxo-1Hbenz[de]isoquinolin-2(3H)-yl)benzenesulfonamides and 1,8-naphthalimide, were used. Design/methodology/approach Three organic dyes based on azo were selected, which contain various electron donor groups. Absorption properties of purified dyes were studied in solution and on photoelectrode (TiO2 and ZnO) substrate. DSSCs were prepared to determine the photovoltaic performance of each photosensitizer. Findings The results showed that all organic dyes form J-aggregation on the photoanode substrate. Cyclic voltammetry results for all organic dyes ensured an energetically permissible and thermodynamically favorable charge transfer throughout the continuous cycle of photo-electric conversion. The results illustrate conversion efficiencies of cells based on solution Dyes 1, 2 and 3 and TiO2 as 3.44, 4.71 and 4.82 per cent, respectively. The conversion efficiencies of cells based on solution Dye 1, 2 and 3 and ZnO are 3.21, 4.09 and 4.14 per cent, respectively. Practical implications In this study, the development of effect of assembling materials, offering improved photovoltaic properties. Social implications Organic dye attracts more and more attention because of its low-cost, facile route synthesis and less-hazardous properties. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the effect of anchoring agent and nanostructure on DSSCs performance was investigated for the first time.


2013 ◽  
Vol 743-744 ◽  
pp. 863-869
Author(s):  
Teng Chen ◽  
You Wen Zhao ◽  
Zhi Yuan Don ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Tong Liu ◽  
...  

Upgraded metallurgical grade (UMG) silicon has been researched both on the purification methods and its material properties for years, indicating that it is the most promising choice as low-cost feedstock for photovoltaics. In this work, UMG multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) prepared by cold crucible refining and electron beam melting was investigated. Solar cells based on such silicon wafers were fabricated in a 156 x 156 mm2 production line and their photovoltaic properties were characterized. Compared with the conventional mc-Si solar cells fabricated in the same commercial production line, the UMG mc-Si solar cells with two busbars presented higher average open circuit voltage (Voc) and average fill factor (FF), which were 628 mV and 78.6 % separately. Although the UMG mc-Si solar cells showed a lower shot-circuit current density (Jsc) of 32.7 A/cm2 in the average and an early reverse breakdown voltage at around 11 V which was due to higher impurities content. The average conversion efficiency of the UMG mc-Si solar cells reached 16.14 %, and the highest conversion efficiency was up to 16.31 %. In addition, the UMG mc-Si solar cells presented relatively low light induced degradation (LID) due to the material properties. Consequently, in consideration of low cost, our UMG mc-Si solar cells substantially met the requirements of commercial manufacturing and had a great potential application for photovoltaic industry.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1673
Author(s):  
Ruyi Xie ◽  
Li Song ◽  
Zhihui Zhao

Using single-bonded and fused aromatic rings are two methods for extending the π-conjugation in the vertical direction of benzo [1,2-b:4,5-b′] dithiophene (BDT) unit. To investigate which method is more efficient in nonfullerene systems, two novel polymers based on alkylthionaphthyl and alkylthiobiphenyl substituted BDT named PBDTNS-FTAZ and PBDTBPS-FTAZ are designed and synthesized. Two polymers only exhibit small differences in structure, but huge differences in photovoltaic properties. They are studied by blended with 3,9-bis(2-methylene-(3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)indanone)-5,5,11,11-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)dithieno [2,3-d’:2,3’-d’]-s-indaceno [1,2-b:5,6-b’] dithiophene (ITIC). The device based on PBDTNS-FTAZ:ITIC showed the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.63% with the Voc of 0.87 V, a Jsc of 18.06 mA/cm2 and a fill factor of 61.21%, while the PBDTBPS-FTAZ:ITIC only exhibit a maximum PCE of 7.79% with a Voc of 0.86 V, a Jsc of 16.24 mA/cm2 and a relatively low fill factor of 55.92%. Therefore, extending π-conjugation with alkylthionaphthyl is more effective against constructing nonfullerene solar cells.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenrong Jia ◽  
Shucheng Qin ◽  
Lei Meng ◽  
Qing Ma ◽  
Indunil Angunawela ◽  
...  

AbstractTandem organic solar cells are based on the device structure monolithically connecting two solar cells to broaden overall absorption spectrum and utilize the photon energy more efficiently. Herein, we demonstrate a simple strategy of inserting a double bond between the central core and end groups of the small molecule acceptor Y6 to extend its conjugation length and absorption range. As a result, a new narrow bandgap acceptor BTPV-4F was synthesized with an optical bandgap of 1.21 eV. The single-junction devices based on BTPV-4F as acceptor achieved a power conversion efficiency of over 13.4% with a high short-circuit current density of 28.9 mA cm−2. With adopting BTPV-4F as the rear cell acceptor material, the resulting tandem devices reached a high power conversion efficiency of over 16.4% with good photostability. The results indicate that BTPV-4F is an efficient infrared-absorbing narrow bandgap acceptor and has great potential to be applied into tandem organic solar cells.


Nanoscale ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (23) ◽  
pp. 14433-14440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng-qi Guo ◽  
Tian-zeng Jing ◽  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Xiao-bing Yang ◽  
Zhi-hao Yuan ◽  
...  

In this work, we report the synthesis of mesoporous Bi2S3 nanorods under hydrothermal conditions without additives, and investigated their catalytic activities as the CE in DSCs by I–V curves and tested conversion efficiency.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1489
Author(s):  
Bhaskar Parida ◽  
Saemon Yoon ◽  
Dong-Won Kang

Materials and processing of transparent electrodes (TEs) are key factors to creating high-performance translucent perovskite solar cells. To date, sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) has been a general option for a rear TE of translucent solar cells. However, it requires a rather high cost due to vacuum process and also typically causes plasma damage to the underlying layer. Therefore, we introduced TE based on ITO nanoparticles (ITO-NPs) by solution processing in ambient air without any heat treatment. As it reveals insufficient conductivity, Ag nanowires (Ag-NWs) are additionally coated. The ITO-NPs/Ag-NW (0D/1D) bilayer TE exhibits a better figure of merit than sputtered ITO. After constructing CsPbBr3 perovskite solar cells, the device with 0D/1D TE offers similar average visible transmission with the cells with sputtered ITO. More interestingly, the power conversion efficiency of 0D/1D TE device was 5.64%, which outperforms the cell (4.14%) made with sputtered-ITO. These impressive findings could open up a new pathway for the development of low-cost, translucent solar cells with quick processing under ambient air at room temperature.


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