Photovoltaic Cells Using Composite Nanoclusters of Porphyrins and Fullerenes with Gold Nanoparticles

Abstract

Novel organic solar cells have been prepared using quaternary self-organization of porphyrin (donor) and fullerene (acceptor) units by clusterization with gold nanoparticles on nanostructured SnO2 electrodes. First, porphyrin-alkanethiolate monolayer-protected gold nanoparticles (H2PCnMPC: n is the number of methylene groups in the spacer) are prepared (secondary organization) starting from the primary component (porphyrin-alkanethiol). These porphyrin-modified gold nanoparticles form complexes with fullerene molecules (tertiary organization), and they are clusterized in acetonitrile/toluene mixed solvent (quaternary organization). The highly colored composite clusters can then be assembled as three-dimensional arrays onto nanostructured SnO2 films to afford the OTE/SnO2/(H2PCnMPC+C60)m electrode using an electrophoretic deposition method. The film of the composite clusters with gold nanoparticle exhibits an incident photon-to-photocurrent efficiency (IPCE) as high as 54% and broad photocurrent action spectra (up to 1000 nm). The power conversion efficiency of the OTE/SnO2/(H2PC15MPC+C60)m composite electrode reaches as high as 1.5%, which is 45 times higher than that of the reference system consisting of the both single components of porphyrin and fullerene.

Mechanistic Studies on the Galvanic Replacement Reaction between Multiply Twinned Particles of Ag and HAuCl4 in an Organic Medium

“…6 Many approaches have been developed to prepare silver and gold nanostructures in different shapes, including nanowires, 7 nanorods, 8 nanospheres, 9-11 nanocubes, 11,12 and nanoplates. 13 Recently, extensive efforts have been devoted to the synthesis of more complex structures -core-shell or hollow nanoparticles.…”

Paradigm shift from self-assembly to commanded assembly of functional materials: recent examples in porphyrin/fullerene supramolecular systems

“…Hasobe et al [87,88] reported novel organic solar cells prepared using quaternary self-assembly of porphyrin (donor) and fullerene (acceptor) dye units by clustering with gold or TiO 2 nanoparticles. They demonstrated a remarkable enhancement in the photoelectrochemical performance, as well as broader photoresponse in the visible and infrared relative to the reference systems.…”

Fabrication and Characterization of Fullerene-Based Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells with Porphyrin, CuInS2, Diamond and Exciton-Diffusion Blocking Layer

“…In the present work, 5,10,15,20-Tetraphenyl-21,23H-porphin zinc (ZnTPP), CuInS 2 (CIS) and diamond was used for p-type semiconductors [9,16], and C 60 with excellent electron affinity was used for n-type semiconductors. Porphyrin has high optical absorption in the visible spectrum and high hole mobility [17][18][19], and was expected to form cocrystallites with C 60 [20,21] that would be suitable for the bulk heterojunction structure [22,23]. I-III-VI group compounds, called chalcopyrite, are expected as next generation solar cell materials, and CIS is one of the representative chalcopyrite compounds.…”