Enhancement of Incident Photon-to-Current Conversion Efficiency for Phthalocyanine-Sensitized Solar Cells by 3D Molecular Structuralization

Abstract

Enlarging the molecular size of zinc phthalocyanine (Pc) dyes three dimensionally with 2,6-diphenylphenoxy substituents significantly reduced the aggregation of the dyes on a TiO(2) surface. As a result, the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency was improved not only in the Q band but over the whole absorption range, achieving 4.6% energy conversion efficiency under one-sun conditions. Electron lifetime measurements indicated that these Pc dyes do not enhance charge recombination, encouraging further development of Pc.

Near-infrared absorbing unsymmetrical Zn(II) phthalocyanine for dye-sensitized solar cells

“…In the aggregated state, the electronic structure of the complexed Pc rings is perturbed resulting in an alteration of the ground state and excited state properties. Recently, several groups have designed and synthesized unsymmetrical phthalocyanines to improve the device efficiency [19][20][21][22][23][24]. But, in all these unsymmetrical phthalocyanine dyes, the Q-band absorption is narrow, which is centered around 700 nm, partly limiting the light-harvesting capability of the sensitized photoelectrodes.In order to further improve the efficiency of phthalocyanine based DSC devices, one has to shift the absorption maxima of the Q-band towards near-IR region, along with a possible broadened absorption to enhance the spectral matching with the sunlight.…”

New generation solar cells: concepts, trends and perspectives

“…12). 92 The utilization of even bulkier diphenylphenoxy substituents, brought about a significant boost in the performance, first with PcS6 yielding a 4.6% PCE 93 and later with TT40 with 6% (Fig. 12).…”

En route towards panchromatic light harvesting: photophysical and electrochemical properties of Bodipy–porphyrazine conjugates

“…9,10 Peripheral annulations of the porphyrazine core have a marked impact on the overall aromaticity of the macrocycle.…”