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Omar ÖH, Del Cueto M, Nematiaram T, Troisi A. High-throughput virtual screening for organic electronics: a comparative study of alternative strategies. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. C 2021; 9:13557-13583. [PMID: 34745630 PMCID: PMC8515942 DOI: 10.1039/d1tc03256a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
We present a review of the field of high-throughput virtual screening for organic electronics materials focusing on the sequence of methodological choices that determine each virtual screening protocol. These choices are present in all high-throughput virtual screenings and addressing them systematically will lead to optimised workflows and improve their applicability. We consider the range of properties that can be computed and illustrate how their accuracy can be determined depending on the quality and size of the experimental datasets. The approaches to generate candidates for virtual screening are also extremely varied and their relative strengths and weaknesses are discussed. The analysis of high-throughput virtual screening is almost never limited to the identification of top candidates and often new patterns and structure-property relations are the most interesting findings of such searches. The review reveals a very dynamic field constantly adapting to match an evolving landscape of applications, methodologies and datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ömer H Omar
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3BX UK
| | - Marcos Del Cueto
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3BX UK
| | | | - Alessandro Troisi
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3BX UK
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Black FA, Clark CA, Summers GH, Clark IP, Towrie M, Penfold T, George MW, Gibson EA. Investigating interfacial electron transfer in dye-sensitized NiO using vibrational spectroscopy. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2018; 19:7877-7885. [PMID: 28262897 DOI: 10.1039/c6cp05712h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Understanding what influences the formation and lifetime of charge-separated states is key to developing photoelectrochemical devices. This paper describes the use of time-resolved infrared absorption spectroscopy (TRIR) to determine the structure and lifetime of the intermediates formed on photoexcitation of two organic donor-π-acceptor dyes adsorbed to the surface of NiO. The donor and π-linker of both dyes is triphenylamine and thiophene but the acceptors differ, maleonitrile (1) and bodipy (2). Despite their structural similarities, dye 1 outperforms 2 significantly in devices. Strong transient bands in the fingerprint region (1 and 2) and nitrile region (2300-2000 cm-1) for 1 enabled us to monitor the structure of the excited states in solution or adsorbed on NiO (in the absence and presence of electrolyte) and the corresponding kinetics, which are on a ps-ns timescale. The results are consistent with rapid (<1 ps) charge-transfer from NiO to the excited dye (1) to give exclusively the charge-separated state on the timescale of our measurements. Conversely, the TRIR experiments revealed that multiple species are present shortly after excitation of the bodipy chromophore in 2, which is electronically decoupled from the thiophene linker. In solution, excitation first populates the bodipy singlet excited state, followed by charge transfer from the triphenylamine to the bodipy. The presence and short lifetime (τ ≈ 30 ps) of the charge-transfer excited state when 2 is adsorbed on NiO (2|NiO) suggests that charge separation is slower and/or less efficient in 2|NiO than in 1|NiO. This is consistent with the difference in performance between the two dyes in dye-sensitized solar cells and photoelectrochemical water splitting devices. Compared to n-type materials such as TiO2, less is understood regarding electron transfer between dyes and p-type metal oxides such as NiO, but it is evident that fast charge-recombination presents a limit to the performance of photocathodes. This is also a major challenge to photocatalytic systems based on a "Z-scheme", where the catalysis takes place on a µs-s timescale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fiona A Black
- School of Chemistry, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
| | - Charlotte A Clark
- School of Chemistry, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Gareth H Summers
- School of Chemistry, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. and School of Chemistry, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Ian P Clark
- Central Laser Facility, Research Complex at Harwell, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Oxford, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK
| | - Michael Towrie
- Central Laser Facility, Research Complex at Harwell, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Oxford, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK and Dynamic Structural Science Consortium, Research Complex at Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0FA, UK
| | - Thomas Penfold
- School of Chemistry, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
| | - Michael W George
- School of Chemistry, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK and Dynamic Structural Science Consortium, Research Complex at Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0FA, UK and Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, 199 Taikang East Road, Ningbo 315100, China
| | - Elizabeth A Gibson
- School of Chemistry, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. and School of Chemistry, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
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Chou HH, Liu YC, Fang G, Cao QK, Wei TC, Yeh CY. Structurally Simple and Easily Accessible Perylenes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Applicable to Both 1 Sun and Dim-Light Environments. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2017; 9:37786-37796. [PMID: 28990749 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b11784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The need for low-cost and highly efficient dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells under both the sunlight and dim light environments is growing. We have devised GJ-series push-pull organic dyes which require only four synthesis steps. These dyes feature a linear molecular structure of donor-perylene-ethynylene-arylcarboxylic acid, where donor represents N,N-diarylamino group and arylcarboxylic groups represent benzoic, thienocarboxylic, 2-cyano-3-phenylacrylic, 2-cyano-3-thienoacrylic, and 4-benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol-4-yl-benzoic groups. In this study, we demonstrated that a dye without tedious and time-consuming synthesis efforts can perform efficiently. Under the illumination of AM1.5G simulated sunlight, the benzothiadiazole-benzoic-containing GJ-BP dye shows the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.16% with VOC of 0.70 V and JSC of 11.88 mA cm-2 using liquid iodide-based electrolyte. It also shows high performance in converting light of 6000 lx light intensity, that is, incident power of ca. 1.75 mW cm-2, to power output of 0.28 mW cm-2 which equals a PCE of 15.79%. Interestingly, the benzoic-containing dye GJ-P with a simple molecular structure has comparable performance in generating power output of 0.26 mW cm-2 (PCE of 15.01%) under the same condition and is potentially viable toward future application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hsien-Hsin Chou
- Department of Chemistry and Research Center for Sustainable Energy & Nanotechnology, National Chung Hsing University , Taichung 402, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Chieh Liu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University , Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
| | - Guanjie Fang
- Department of Chemistry and Research Center for Sustainable Energy & Nanotechnology, National Chung Hsing University , Taichung 402, Taiwan
| | - Qiao-Kai Cao
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University , Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Chien Wei
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University , Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
| | - Chen-Yu Yeh
- Department of Chemistry and Research Center for Sustainable Energy & Nanotechnology, National Chung Hsing University , Taichung 402, Taiwan
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