Investigation of UV Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Water Electrolyte: A New Insight for Wavelength-Selective Greenhouse

The optimization of the photoactive electrode based on TiO2 with a complex architecture for UV dyes along with water-based electrolyte has successfully allowed us (i) to obtain a photovoltaic efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cell with 1.45 times higher than the best efficiency reported for synthetic dye and 3 times for curcumin dye so far; (ii) transparency on the entire Photosynthetic Active Radiation domain; (iii) preserving high efficiency for lighting 1 sun (summer) and shading, especially for 60 mW/cm2, which represents the maximum illumination in the rest of the seasons. Our water-based dye-sensitized solar cells loaded with synthetic and natural UV dyes have revealed that the implementation of a dye-sensitized solar cell in autonomous greenhouses is a viable and inexpensive concept.

Synthesis and Characterization of Zinc (II) Phthalocyanine for Screening Potential Solar Cell Dye Application

Phthalocyanine molecules have the potential to be used in select Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) and Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs), due to UV-Vis absorbance in the 300-450 (nm) Soret Band, corresponding to π HOMO-1 to π* LUMO transition and 550-690 (nm) Q-band, corresponding to π HOMO to π* LUMO transitions. In this study Tetranitro Zinc (II) Phthalocyanine is synthesized via base catalysis before the product is characterized via IR, 1H NMR & UV-Vis analysis. Assessing the desirability of the Tetranitro Zinc (II) Phthalocyanine as a solar organic semiconducting dye in DSSCs and LSCs. The desirability is assessed by novel computational DFT calculations, of the aggregation binding mode to deduce if Aggregation-Caused Quenching (ACQ) is occurring in the aggregated sample. ACQ is known to reduce DSSCs and LSCs generation of useful photo-active current. Aggregation-Caused Quenching (ACQ) is mathematically indicated in Phthalocyanine aggregation and Tetranitro Zinc (II) Phthalocyanine’s desirability is assessed for further use in DSSCs and LSCs.