Single- and co-sensitization of triphenylamine-based and asymmetrical squaraine dyes on the anatase (001) surface for DSSC applications: Periodic DFT calculations

A promising small-sized near-infrared absorbing zwitterionic dye for DSSC and NLO applications: DFT and TD-DFT approaches

Herein we investigate three quinoid zwitterionic dye sensitizers having donor-donor (4-dimethylaniline; ZIDM), donor-acceptor (4-dimethylaniline and 4-benzoic acid; ZIMCA), and acceptor-acceptor (4-benzoic acid; ZIDCA) that can be used in dye sensitized-solar cells and non-linear optical (NLO) application through density-functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent-DFT computations. ZIDM showed better charge transfer than ZIMCA and ZIDCA, which showed similar trends in chemical potential, electrophilicity index, hardness, and hyperhardness. The higher values of open circuit voltage, light harvesting efficiency, lower binding, and adsorption energy values for the dye to bind with the TiO2 cluster were observed for ZIDM. The results suggest that these dyes can easily hold with the TiO2 cluster through the monodentate binding mode possible between Ti and oxygen of the zwitterionic backbone. The examination of the linear and NLO properties of these dyes revealed that ZIDM has a higher α0 = 80.64 × 10-24 esu, β0 = 448.54 × 10-30 esu, and γ = 2219.23 × 10-36 esu in DCM. Similarly, higher values of molecular hyperpolarizability of 1335.0 × 10-48 esu and 8818.3 × 10-48 esu were observed in gas and DCM for ZIDM than ZIMCA and ZIDCA.

The effect of central transition metals and electron-donating substituent on the performances of dye/TiO2 interface for dye-sensitized solar cells applications

Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) approaches were applied to explore the effect of central transition metals and the dye/TiO₂ interface on dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performance and supply a promising way to estimate and screen possible candidates for DSSC applications. The interaction properties, bonding characteristics, sensitized mechanisms, charge transfer, frontier molecular orbitals, energy gap, partial densities of states (PDOS), non-covalent interactions (NCI), and electronic absorption spectra were examined and analyzed to provide the photovoltaic characteristics of Sc, Cu, and Ti tetrasulfonic acid phthalocyanine sensitizer@TiO₂ interface in both gas phase and polar solvent as acetonitrile. The interfacial of TiPc-(SO₃H)₄ with TiO₂, which facilitates the driving force for the electron injection of photosensitizers (ΔG^inj), increases the charge separation, open-circuit voltage (V_oc), and high light-harvesting efficiency (LHE) values. However, minimize the charge recombination, lifetime of the excited state (τ), regeneration driving force (ΔG^reg). Our results reveal that TiPc-(SO₃H)₄@TiO₂ is superior to those of ScPc-(SO₃H)₄, CuPc-(SO₃H)₄, TiPc-(SO₃H)₄ and Pc-(SO₃H)₄/TiO₂, indicating the novel TiPc-(SO₃H)₄@TiO₂ interface could be promising candidates for DSSC photovoltaic devices performance. In addition, the static mean polarizability and first hyperpolarizability of all six dyes elucidated that the TiPc-(SO₃H)₄@TiO₂ interface can be regarded as a potential performer in non-linear optical (NLO) properties. These theoretical identifications may provide novel perspectives and instructions for future experimental researchers to promote the synthesis and application of TiPc-(SO₃H)₄@TiO₂ interfaces to improve the photo-to-current conversion efficiency.

Optical and electronic properties enhancement via chalcogenides: promising materials for DSSC applications

CONTEXT

Comparatively, metal-free sensitizers featuring the chalcogen family receive less attention despite known electronic properties for metal-chalcogenide materials. This work reports an array of optoelectronic properties using quantum chemical methods. Observed red-shifted bands within the UV/Vis to NIR regions with absorption maxima > 500 nm were consistent with increasing chalcogenide size. There is a monotonic down-shift in the LUMO and ESOP energy consistent with O 2p, S 3p, Se 4p, to Te 5p atomic orbital energies. Excited-state lifetime and charge injection free energies follow the decreasing order of chalcogenide electronegativity. Adsorption energies of dyes on TiO₂ anatase (101) range between - 0.08 and - 0.77 eV. Based on evaluated properties, selenium- and tellurium-based materials show potential use in DSSCs and futuristic device applications. Therefore, this work motivates continued investigation of the chalcogenide sensitizers and their application.

METHODS

The geometry optimization was performed at B3LYP/6-31 + G(d,p) and B3LYP/LANL2DZ level of theory for lighter and heavier atoms, respectively, using Gaussian 09. The equilibrium geometries were confirmed by the absence of imaginary frequencies. Electronic spectra were obtained at CAM-B3LYP/6-31G + (d,p)/LANL2DZ level of theory. Adsorption energies for dyes on a 4 × 5 supercell TiO₂ anatase (101) were obtained using VASP. The dye-TiO₂ optimizations were employed using GGA and PBE with the PAW pseudo-potentials. The energy cutoff was set at 400 eV and convergence threshold for self-consistent iteration was set to 10^-4, and van der Waals were accounted using DFT-D3 model and on-site Coulomb repulsion potential set at 8.5 eV for Ti.

An optimal molecule-matching co-sensitization system for the improvement of photovoltaic performances of DSSCs

Three biphenyl co-sensitizers (4OBA, 8OBA and 12OBA) with different terminal oxyalkyl chains were synthesized and co-sensitized respectively with the main dye (NP-1) in co-sensitized solar cells (co-DSSCs). The effects of the terminal oxyalkyl chains on the photophysical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties of the co-DSSCs were systematically investigated. The optimal molecular matching relationship between the co-sensitizers and the main dye was obtained through density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Consequently, 4OBA has the most appropriate three-dimensional (3D) molecular structure, which could not only fill the gap between the large-size dyes but also plays a partial shielding role, inhibiting dye aggregation and electron recombination, therefore yielding the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) for the co-DSSCs with NP-1@4OBA. This study suggests that adjusting the terminal oxyalkyl chains of the co-sensitizers can be used to enhance the intramolecular charge transfer efficiency and inhibit electron recombination, ultimately improving the photovoltaic performances of the co-DSSCs.

Prediction of Power Conversion Efficiencies of Diphenylthienylamine-Based Dyes Adsorbed on the Titanium Dioxide Nanotube

The power conversion efficiency (η) is the most important key to determine the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) devices. However, the calculation of η theoretically is a challenging issue since it depends on a large number of experimental and theoretical parameters with extensive related data. In this work, η was successfully predicted using the improved normal model with density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) for eight diphenylthienylamine-based (DP-based) dyes with various π-bridge adsorbed on titanium dioxide. The titanium dioxide is represented by a nanotube surface (TiO₂NT); this surface is rarely investigated in the literature. The π-linker consists of five (DP1)- or six (DP2)-membered rings and contains none to three nitrogen atoms (D0-D3). The reliability of the estimated values was confirmed by the excellent agreement with those available for the two experimentally tested ones (DP2-D0 and DP2-D2). The deviations between the experimental and estimated values were in the ranges of 0.03 to 0.06 mA cm^-2, 0.05 to 0.3 mV, and 0.37 to 0.18% for short-circuits current density (J _sc), open-circuit voltage (V _oc), power conversion efficiency (%η), respectively. More importantly, the results revealed that using pyridine (DP2-D1), pyrimidine (DP2-D2), and 1,2,4-triazine (DP2-D3) improves the power conversion efficiencies in the range of 6.03 to 6.90%. However, the cyclopenta-1,3-diene (DP1-D0) shows superior performance with a predicted η value that reaches 9.55%.