A feasible scalable porphyrin dye for dye-sensitized solar cells under one sun and dim light environments

Abstract

We have devised new porphyrin dye Y1A1 for photovoltaic application under both light sources of AM1.5G standard condition and low light intensity at 300 ~ 2400 lux. The dye Y1A1 tailored with two 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-methoxyphenyl groups at meso-10,20-positions which helps the solubility of the molecule in solvents and avoids involvement of the hazardous chemical n-butyllithium during the synthesis of some typical high efficiency porphyrins such as YD2-o-C8 and LD-series dyes. The dye is also structurally simple so that large-scale synthesis for future industrial application becomes feasible. The Y1A1-based cells were found to exhibit higher performance using I -/I 3 rather than Co 2+/3+ electrolyte in the presence of CDCA co-adsorbent. Addition of Li + together with removal of GuSCN as electrolyte additives benefit the performance in terms of higher capacitance at compensate of surface charge recombination and electron lifetime. The optimized cells based on Y1A1 showed a power conversion efficiency of 9.22% at AM1.5G condition and as high as 19.5%illuminated under 350 lux of LED light. IntroductionSolar cells are well-known technologies in terms of converting energy from sun to a flow of electrons. To provide a controllable and comparable testing condition for solar cells, standard 1 Sun condition (100 mW cm -2 ) is generally equipped in the laboratory for mimicking the outdoor environments which typically shed lights with intensity of >100,000 lux. In contrast, indoor lights surrounding the living places of the community can be considered as low light or dim light due to relatively lower photon flux. These places including homes, schools, offices, factories, hospitals and stores require brightness of light sources typically ranging between 300~500 lux. Higher light level demand for specific area such as laboratories, reading rooms, production halls, first aids and show rooms require the illuminated light of 500~1500 lux. With the thriving concept of indoor energy-harvesting aiming at these reachable light sources, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are certainly one of the most promising light-to-electricity conversion technologies. 1 DSCs have drawn growing attention since the pioneer work initiated by Grätzel's groups. 2 In the past two decades, molecular engineering of dyes yields several kinds of molecular architectures for efficient solar-to-electricity conversion. 3, 4 These high performance dyes includes the ruthenium polypyridyl complexes, 5, 6 the arylamine-based organic dyes 7-12 and the porphyrin-based dyes. 13-15 Graphical AbstractA new porphyrin dye Y1A1 has been devised for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells under the irradiance of either AM1.5G simulated sunlight or fluorescent/LED based dim light.

All‐Weather Solar Cells: A Rising Photovoltaic Revolution

“…The dark efficiency ( η dark ) is calculated according to η dark = P max / P in , in which P max and P in are maximal power output and intensity for incident light, respectively. In the dark conditions, the photosensitive dyes are irradiated by monochromatic luminescence from LPP phosphors, therefore P in is equal to the photofluorescent light intensity of TiO 2 /LPP photoanode. The maximized dark efficiency was determined to be as high as 26.69 % for devices with green‐emitting LPPs.…”

Effect of long alkyl chains of aniline donor on the photovoltaic performance of D‐π‐A zinc porphyrin for dye‐sensitized solar cells

“…For precise photovoltaic measurement, the shielding mask (0.36 cm 2 ) was attached to the illuminating side of the device. The electrolyte included 0.5 M 4‐tertbutyl pyridine, 0.1 M guanidinium thiocyanate, 0.05 M LiI, 0.03 M I 2 , and 1.0 M 1,3‐dimethylimidazole iodide in acetonitrile/valeronitrile (85:15, vol/vol) …”

Role of Co‐Sensitizers in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Another report from Yeha nd co-workers investigated the influences of Li + and GuSCN ( Figure 1) additives together with CDCA as the co-adsorbent with ap orphyrin-based dye( referred to as Y1A1, Figure 4) for high-performance dye-sensi-tized solar cells. [26] The GuSCN-free electrolyte improves the PCE by reducing charger ecombination and electron lifetime upon addition of Li + additive. PCE values werem easured up to 9.22 %( V OC = 0.658 V, J SC = 18.57 mA cm À2 ,a nd FF = 0.753) using I À /I 3 À rather than Co 2 + /3 + electrolytes in the presence of 0.3 mm CDCA as the co-adsorbent when measured at 1sun illumination.…”