Synthesis And Photovoltaic Performance of Carbazole (Donor) Based Photosensitizers in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC): A Review

Carbazoles are nitrogen-containing aromatic heterocycles, having widespread applications in the field of photovoltaics. Carbazole-based photosensitizers have tunable features for absorption on semi-conductor (tellurium dioxide or zinc oxide) layers to create sufficient push-pull force in the conversion of sunlight into electrical energy, thus presenting as promising heterocyclic donor candidates to be used in dye-sensitized solar cells. For the synthesis of these dyes, various structural designs are available, namely, D-A, D-π-A, D-D-π-A, D-A-π-A, A-π-D-π-A-π-A, and D2-π-A that all involve incorporating carbazole as a donor (D), along with spacer (π-extender) moieties, such as thiophene, phenol, ethynylene, nitromethane, azine, thiadiazole, or acetonitrile. Additionally, acceptors (A) employed in the designs include cyanoacrylic acids, carboxylic acids, malononitrile, rhodanine-3-acetic acid, 4-aminobenzoic acid, or 4-amino salicylic acid. This comprehensive review explores the synthesis and photovoltaic performances of numerous carbazole-based photosensitizers tailored for dye-sensitized solar cells, covering the period of 2019-2023.

Biohybrid Molecule-Based Photocatalysts for Water Splitting Hydrogen Evolution

The problems of resource depletion and environmental pollution caused by the excessive use of fossil fuels greatly restrict the rapid development of human technology and industry, which has led to a high demand for the development of new and clean energy sources. Hydrogen, due to its high calorific value and environmentally friendly combustion products, is undoubtedly a very promising energy carrier. The current methods of industrial hydrogen production are mainly water electrocatalytic decomposition or fossil fuels conversion, which also results in the waste of other energy sources. Since only one-step is involved during the conversion from solar to chemical energy and thus unnecessary energy waste is avoided, solar energy photocatalytic decomposition of water provides a more viable method for hydrogen production. The utilization of biohybrid molecules, which are widely available in nature and environmentally friendly, further reduce the cost of such photocatalytic systems. This Review discusses the research progress on hydrogen production using biohybrid molecules for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The basic reaction mechanism, general types and system structures about biohybrid molecule-based photocatalysts are summarized. The current challenges and prospects in the research of water splitting hydrogen evolution by biohybrid molecules photocatalysts are presented.

Interaction of pyridine π-bridge-based poly(methacrylate) dyes for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells with the influence of different strength phenothiazine, fluorene and anthracene sensitizers as donor units with new anchoring mode

A simple and low-cost approach for the synthesis of three novel propeller-shaped (D₂)–π–A type organic polymer dyes has been developed; a new acceptor and π-bridge (PYN) were used to tune the photoelectric properties: DFT studies.