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Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Photochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 December 2016) | Viewed by 12742

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
Interests: dye-sensitized solar cells; electrochemistry; hole-transporting materials; porphyrins; organic dyes; organic solar cells
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The increase in world population and increasing energy demands in developing countries will lead to the aggravation of environmental pollution. To meet increasing energy requirement in the future and preserve the global environment for a high quality of human life, the development of clean and sustainable alternatives, i.e., renewable energy vs. fossil fuels is extremely important. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted a great deal of attention because they offer good power conversion efficiency, ease of fabrication, and short energy payback time with a potentially lower cost, and present one of the most promising alternatives to conventional photovoltaic devices.

We cordially invite researchers to submit their work relevant to the study of dye-sensitized solar cells to this Special Issue of Molecules.

Prof. Dr. Chen-Yu Yeh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • dye-sensitized solar cells
  • light harvesting
  • porphyrin
  • ruthenium
  • sensitizer
  • solar cell

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

2812 KiB  
Article
Charge Transfer Enhancement in the D-π-A Type Porphyrin Dyes: A Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) Study
by Guo-Jun Kang, Chao Song and Xue-Feng Ren
Molecules 2016, 21(12), 1618; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules21121618 - 25 Nov 2016
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 7203
Abstract
The electronic geometries and optical properties of two D-π-A type zinc porphyrin dyes (NCH3-YD2 and TPhe-YD) were systematically investigated by density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) to reveal the origin of significantly altered charge transfer enhancement by [...] Read more.
The electronic geometries and optical properties of two D-π-A type zinc porphyrin dyes (NCH3-YD2 and TPhe-YD) were systematically investigated by density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) to reveal the origin of significantly altered charge transfer enhancement by changing the electron donor of the famous porphyrin-based sensitizer YD2-o-C8. The molecular geometries and photophysical properties of dyes before and after binding to the TiO2 cluster were fully investigated. From the analyses of natural bond orbital (NBO), extended charge decomposition analysis (ECDA), and electron density variations (Δρ) between the excited state and ground state, it was found that the introduction of N(CH3)2 and 1,1,2-triphenylethene groups enhanced the intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) character compared to YD2-o-C8. The absorption wavelength and transition possess character were significantly influenced by N(CH3)2 and 1,1,2-triphenylethene groups. NCH3-YD2 with N(CH3)2 groups in the donor part is an effective way to improve the interactions between the dyes and TiO2 surface, light having efficiency (LHE), and free energy change (ΔGinject), which is expected to be an efficient dye for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells)
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2641 KiB  
Article
Porphyrin Dye-Sensitized Zinc Oxide Aggregated Anodes for Use in Solar Cells
by Yu-Kai Syu, Yogesh Tingare, Shou-Yen Lin, Chen-Yu Yeh and Jih-Jen Wu
Molecules 2016, 21(8), 1025; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules21081025 - 5 Aug 2016
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4925
Abstract
Porphyrin YD2-o-C8-based dyes were employed to sensitize room-temperature (RT) chemical-assembled ZnO aggregated anodes for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). To reduce the acidity of the YD2-o-C8 dye solution, the proton in the carboxyl group of a porphyrin dye was replaced with tetrabuthyl [...] Read more.
Porphyrin YD2-o-C8-based dyes were employed to sensitize room-temperature (RT) chemical-assembled ZnO aggregated anodes for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). To reduce the acidity of the YD2-o-C8 dye solution, the proton in the carboxyl group of a porphyrin dye was replaced with tetrabuthyl ammonium (TBA+) in this work. The short-circuit current density (Jsc) of the YD2-o-C8-TBA-sensitized ZnO DSSCs is higher than that of the YD2-o-C8-sensitized cells, resulting in the improvement of the efficiency of the YD2-o-C8-based ZnO DSSCs. With an appropriate incorporation of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) as coadsorbate, the Jsc and efficiency of the YD2-o-C8-TBA-sensitized ZnO DSSC are enhanced due to the improvement of the incident-photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) values in the wavelength range of 400–450 nm. Moreover, a considerable increase in Jsc is achieved by the addition of a light scattering layer in the YD2-o-C8-TBA-sensitized ZnO photoanodes. Significant IPCE enhancement in the range 475–600 nm is not attainable by tuning the YD2-o-C8-TBA sensitization processes for the anodes without light scattering layers. Using the RT chemical-assembled ZnO aggregated anode with a light scattering layer, an efficiency of 3.43% was achieved in the YD2-o-C8-TBA-sensitized ZnO DSSC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells)
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