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Maruccia E, Galliano S, Schiavo E, Garino N, Segura Zarate AY, Muñoz-García AB, Pavone M, Gerbaldi C, Barolo C, Cauda V, Bella F. Exploring zinc oxide morphologies for aqueous solar cells by a photoelectrochemical, computational, and multivariate approach. ENERGY ADVANCES 2024; 3:1062-1072. [PMID: 38766406 PMCID: PMC11097750 DOI: 10.1039/d4ya00010b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
Dye-sensitized solar cells assembled with aqueous electrolytes are emerging as a sustainable photovoltaic technology suitable for safe indoor and portable electronics use. While the scientific community is exploring unconventional materials for preparing electrodes and electrolytes, this work presents the first study on zinc oxide as a semiconductor material to fabricate photoanodes for aqueous solar cells. Different morphologies (i.e., nanoparticles, multipods, and desert roses) are synthesized, characterized, and tested in laboratory-scale prototypes. This exploratory work, also integrated by a computational study and a multivariate investigation on the factors that influence electrode sensitization, confirms the possibility of using zinc oxide in the field of aqueous photovoltaics and opens the way to new morphologies and processes of functionalization or surface activation to boost the overall cell efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Maruccia
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
| | - Simone Galliano
- Department of Chemistry, NIS Interdepartmental Centre and INSTM Reference Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 7 10125 - Torino Italy
| | - Eduardo Schiavo
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Università di Napoli Federico II, Comp. Univ. Monte Sant'Angelo, Via Cintia 21 80126 - Napoli Italy
| | - Nadia Garino
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
| | - Ana Y Segura Zarate
- Department of Chemistry, NIS Interdepartmental Centre and INSTM Reference Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 7 10125 - Torino Italy
- Escuela de Física, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, TEC 159-7050 - Cartago Costa Rica
| | - Ana B Muñoz-García
- Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini", Università di Napoli Federico II, Comp. Univ. Monte Sant'Angelo, Via Cintia 21 80126 - Napoli Italy
| | - Michele Pavone
- Department of Chemical Sciences, Università di Napoli Federico II, Comp. Univ. Monte Sant'Angelo, Via Cintia 21 80126 - Napoli Italy
| | - Claudio Gerbaldi
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
| | - Claudia Barolo
- Department of Chemistry, NIS Interdepartmental Centre and INSTM Reference Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 7 10125 - Torino Italy
- ICxT Interdepartmental Centre, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Lungo Dora Siena 100 10153 - Torino Italy
- Istituto di Scienza, Tecnologia e Sostenibilità per lo Sviluppo dei Materiali Ceramici (ISSMC-CNR), Via Granarolo 64 48018 - Faenza Italy
| | - Valentina Cauda
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
| | - Federico Bella
- Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24 10129 - Torino Italy
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Singh A, Srivastava D, Gosavi SW, Chauhan R, Ashokkumar M, Albalwi AN, Muddassir M, Kumar A. A double co-sensitization strategy using heteroleptic transition metal ferrocenyl dithiocarbamate phenanthrolene-dione for enhancing the performance of N719-based DSSCs. RSC Adv 2022; 12:28088-28097. [PMID: 36320265 PMCID: PMC9527572 DOI: 10.1039/d2ra05601a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Three new heteroleptic dithiocarbamate complexes with formula [M(Phen-dione)(Fcdtc)]PF6 (where M = Ni(ii) Ni-Fc, Cu(ii) Cu-Fc) and [Co(Phen-dione)(Fcdtc)2]PF6 (Co-Fc) (Fcdtc = N-ethanol-N-methylferrocene dithiocarbamate and Phen-dione = 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione; PF6 - = hexafluorophosphate) were synthesized and characterized using microanalysis, FTIR, electronic absorption spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The solution state electronic absorption spectroscopy for all three complexes displayed a band at ∼430 nm corresponding to the ferrocene unit and another low-intensity band in the visible region arising because of the d-d transitions. These newly synthesized complexes were used as co-sensitizers for the state-of-the-art di-tetrabutylammonium cis-bis(isothiocyanato)bis(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylato)ruthenium(ii) (N719) dye in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Among the three co-sensitizers/co-adsorbent-based DSSC set-ups, the assembly fabricated using Co-Fc/N719 displayed good photovoltaic performance with 5.31% efficiency (η) while a new triple component strategy inculcating N719, Co-Fc and Cu-Fc dyes offered the best photovoltaic performance with 6.05% efficiency (η) with incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 63%. This indicated an upliftment of the DSSC performance by ∼38% in comparison to the set-up constructed by employing only N719 dye (η = 4.39%) under similar experimental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amita Singh
- Department of Chemistry, Dr Rammanohar Lohia Awadh UniversityAyodhya-224001India,Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of LucknowLucknow 226 007India
| | - Devyani Srivastava
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of LucknowLucknow 226 007India
| | - Suresh W. Gosavi
- Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune UniversityPune-411007India
| | - Ratna Chauhan
- Department of Environmental Science, Savitribai Phule Pune UniversityPune-411007India
| | | | - Awad Naseer Albalwi
- Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, King Saud UniversityRiyadh 11451Saudi Arabia
| | - Mohd. Muddassir
- Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, King Saud UniversityRiyadh 11451Saudi Arabia
| | - Abhinav Kumar
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of LucknowLucknow 226 007India
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Rashid EU, Hadia NMA, Javed Iqbal, Mehmood RF, Somaily HH, Akram SJ, Shawky AM, Khan MI, Noor S, Khera RA. Engineering of W-shaped benzodithiophenedione-based small molecular acceptors with improved optoelectronic properties for high efficiency organic solar cells. RSC Adv 2022; 12:21801-21820. [PMID: 36043078 PMCID: PMC9358680 DOI: 10.1039/d2ra03280e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In the current study, with the objective to improve the overall performance of organic solar cells, seven new W-shaped small molecular acceptors – were developed theoretically by the end-group alteration of the reference (WR) molecule. The MPW1PW91 functional with the basis set 6-31G(d,p) was used to explore the optoelectronic properties of the WR and W1–W7 molecules and the time-dependent self-consistent filed (TD-SCF) simulation was used to investigate the solvent-state calculations. The several explored photovoltaic attributes were the absorption spectra, excitation energies, bandgap between the FMOs, oscillator strength, full width at half maximum, light-harvesting efficiency, transition density matrices, open-circuit voltage, fill factor, density of states, binding energy, interaction coefficient, etc. Overall, the results revealed a bathochromic shift in the absorption maxima (λmax), a reduced HOMO–LUMO gap (Egap), and smaller excitation energy (Ex) of the altered molecules as compared to the WR molecule. Some of the optoelectronic aspects of a well-known fused ring based acceptor named Y6 are also compared with the studied W-shaped molecules. Additionally, the W1 molecule presented the smallest Egap, along with highest λmax and the lowest Ex, amongst all, in both the evaluated media (gas and solvent). The open circuit voltage (VOC) of all the considered small molecular acceptors was calculated by pairing them with the PTB7-Th donor. Here, W6 and W7 displayed the best results for the VOC (1.48 eV and 1.51 eV), normalized VOC (57.25 and 58.41) and FF (0.9131 and 0.9144). Consequently, in light of the results of this research, the altered molecules could be considered for practical implementation in the manufacturing of OSCs with improved photovoltaic capabilities. The developed molecules have a reduced band gap and lower excitation energy. Their VOC was calculated by making complexes of them with the PTB7-Th donor.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Ullah Rashid
- Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan
| | - N M A Hadia
- Physics Department, College of Science, Jouf University Sakaka Al-Jouf P. O. Box 2014 Saudi Arabia
| | - Javed Iqbal
- Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan
| | - Rana Farhat Mehmood
- Department of Chemistry, Division of Science and Technology, University of Education Township Lahore 54770 Pakistan
| | - H H Somaily
- Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University Abha 61413 P.O. Box 9004 Saudi Arabia.,Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University Abha P.O. Box 9004 Saudi Arabia
| | - Sahar Javaid Akram
- Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan
| | - Ahmed M Shawky
- Science and Technology Unit (STU), Umm Al-Qura University Makkah 21955 Saudi Arabia
| | - Muhammad Imran Khan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan
| | - Sadia Noor
- Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan
| | - Rasheed Ahmad Khera
- Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan
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Gangadhar PS, Reddy G, Prasanthkumar S, Giribabu L. Phenothiazine functional materials for organic optoelectronic applications. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:14969-14996. [PMID: 34231592 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp01185e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Phenothiazine (PTZ) is one of the most extensively investigated S, N heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons due to its unique optical, electronic properties, flexibility of functionalization, low cost, and commercial availability. Hence, PTZ and its derivative materials have been attractive in various optoelectronic applications in the last few years. In this prospective, we have focused on the most significant characteristics of PTZ and highlighted how the structural modifications such as different electron donors or acceptors, length of the π-conjugated system or spacers, polar or non-polar chains, and other functional groups influence the optoelectronic properties. This prospective provides a recent account of the advances in phenothiazine derivative materials as an active layer(s) for optoelectronic (viz. dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), perovskite solar cells (PSCs), organic solar cells (OSCs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic field-effect transistor (OFETs), chemosensing, nonlinear optical materials (NLOs), and supramolecular self-assembly applications. Finally, future prospects are discussed based on the structure-property relationship in PTZ-derivative materials. This overview will pave the way for researchers to design and develop new PTZ-functionalized structures and use them for various organic optoelectronic applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Palivela Siva Gangadhar
- Polymers & Functional Materials Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad 500007, TS, India. and Academy of Scientific and Innovation Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India
| | - Govind Reddy
- Polymers & Functional Materials Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad 500007, TS, India.
| | - Seelam Prasanthkumar
- Polymers & Functional Materials Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad 500007, TS, India. and Academy of Scientific and Innovation Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India
| | - Lingamallu Giribabu
- Polymers & Functional Materials Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad 500007, TS, India. and Academy of Scientific and Innovation Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India
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