Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell with Integrated Triplet–Triplet Annihilation Upconversion System

Nattestad, Andrew; Cheng, Yuen Yap; MacQueen, Rowan W.; Schulze, T. F.; Thompson, Fletcher W; Mozer, Attila J.; Fückel, Burkhard; Khoury, Tony; Crossley, Maxwell J.; Lips, K.; Wallace, Gordon G.; Schmidt, Timothy W.

doi:10.1021/jz401050u

Cited by 162 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…47,93,94 The approach was successively applied to organic solar cells 95 as well as dye-sensitized solar cells. 96 Details about these results and a comparison to the lanthanoid upconversion system are given below.…”

Section: Photonic Upconversionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photochemical upconversion: present status and prospects for its application to solar energy conversion

Schulze

Schmidt

2015

Energy Environ. Sci.

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518

507

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All photovoltaic solar cells transmit photons with energies below the absorption threshold (bandgap) of the absorber material, which are therefore usually lost for the purpose of solar energy conversion. Upconversion (UC) devices can harvest this unused sub-threshold light behind the solar cell, and create one higher energy photon out of (at least) two transmitted photons. This higher energy photon is radiated back towards the solar cell, thus expanding the utilization of the solar spectrum. Key requirements for UC units are a broad absorption and high UC quantum yield under low-intensity incoherent illumination, as relevant to solar energy conversion devices, as well as long term photostability. Upconversion by triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) in organic chromophores has proven to fulfil the first two basic requirements, and first proof-of-concept applications in photovoltaic conversion as well as photo(electro)chemical energy storage have been demonstrated. Here we review the basic concept of TTA-UC and its application in the field of solar energy harvesting, and assess the challenges and prospects for its large-scale application, including the long term photostablity of TTA upconversion materials.

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Section: Photonic Upconversionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photochemical upconversion: present status and prospects for its application to solar energy conversion

Schulze

Schmidt

2015

Energy Environ. Sci.

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518

507

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“…Consequently, tremendous advancements have been achieved in photochemical upconversion by using metal-containing triplet sensitizers with a variety of organic-based triplet acceptors/annihilators in both fluid solution [20,22,[29][30][31][32] and various host matrices [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. The ultimate goal of this research is to maximize the efficiency of real-world solar powered devices by imparting sub-bandgap sensitization via integration of UC technology [8][9][10]44,45]. This change in cell design should reduce the drastic losses owing to spectral mismatch between various sensitizers and semiconductor bandgaps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photon upconversion sensitized by a Ru(II)-pyrenyl chromophore

Deng

Lazorski

Castellano

2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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One contribution of 11 to a discussion meeting issue 'Organic semiconductor spintronics: utilizing triplet excitons in organic electronics' . The near-visible-to-blue singlet fluorescence of anthracene sensitized by a ruthenium chromophore with a long-lived triplet-excited state, [Ru(5-pyrenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) 3 ](PF 6 ) 2 , in acetonitrile was investigated. Low intensity non-coherent green light was used to selectively excite the sensitizer in the presence of micromolar concentrations of anthracene generating anti-Stokes, singlet fluorescence in the latter, even with incident power densities below 500 µW cm −2 . The resultant data are consistent with photon upconversion proceeding from sensitized triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) of the anthracene acceptor molecules, confirmed through transient absorption spectroscopy as well as static and dynamic photoluminescence experiments. Additionally, quadratic-to-linear incident power regimes for the upconversion process were identified for this composition under monochromatic 488 nm excitation, consistent with a sensitized TTA mechanism ultimately producing the anti-Stokes emission characteristic of anthracene singlet fluorescence.

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“…This includes the 'third generation' 8 approaches of tandem structures 9,10 and photon upconversion [11][12][13][14] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently 11 we reported an integrated device composed of a DSC working and counter electrode, with a triplet-triplet annihilation based upconversion (TTA-UC) system incorporated into the structure. This TTA-UC element was able to harvest red light transmitted through the active layer and chemically convert it (as described in detail below) to higher energy photons which could be absorbed by the active layer of the DSC and generate photocurrent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrating a Triplet-triplet Annihilation Up-conversion System to Enhance Dye-sensitized Solar Cell Response to Sub-bandgap Light

Nattestad

Cheng

MacQueen

et al. 2014

JoVE

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The poor response of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) to red and infrared light is a significant impediment to the realization of higher photocurrents and hence higher efficiencies. Photon up-conversion by way of triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA-UC) is an attractive technique for using these otherwise wasted low energy photons to produce photocurrent, while not interfering with the photoanodic performance in a deleterious manner. Further to this, TTA-UC has a number of features, distinct from other reported photon up-conversion technologies, which renders it particularly suitable for coupling with DSC technology. In this work, a proven high performance TTA-UC system, comprising a palladium porphyrin sensitizer and rubrene emitter, is combined with a high performance DSC (utilizing the organic dye D149) in an integrated device. The device shows an enhanced response to sub-bandgap light over the absorption range of the TTA-UC sub-unit resulting in the highest figure of merit for up-conversion assisted DSC performance to date. Video LinkThe video component of this article can be found at

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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell with Integrated Triplet–Triplet Annihilation Upconversion System

Cited by 162 publications

References 56 publications

Photochemical upconversion: present status and prospects for its application to solar energy conversion

Photochemical upconversion: present status and prospects for its application to solar energy conversion

Photon upconversion sensitized by a Ru(II)-pyrenyl chromophore

Integrating a Triplet-triplet Annihilation Up-conversion System to Enhance Dye-sensitized Solar Cell Response to Sub-bandgap Light

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