Wavelength Conversion Lanthanide(III)-cored Complex for Highly Efficient Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Lanthanide(III)-cored complex as a wavelength conversion material has been successfully designed and synthesized for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells, for the first time, since light with a short wavelength has not been effectively used for generating electric power owing to the limited absorption of these DSSCs in the UV region. A black dye (BD) was chosen and used as a sensitizer, because BD has a relatively weak light absorption at shorter wavelengths. The overall conversion efficiency of the BD/WCM device was remarkably increased, even with the relatively small amount of WCM added to the device. The enhancement in V oc by WCM, like DCA, could be correlated with the suppression of electron recombination between the injected electrons and I 3 − ions. Furthermore, the short-circuit current density was significantly increased by WCM with a strong UV light-harvesting effect. The energy transfer from the Eu(III)-cored complex to the TiO 2 film occurred via the dye, so the number of electrons injected into the TiO 2 surface increased, i.e., the short-circuit current density was increased. As a result, BD/WCM-sensitized solar cells exhibit superior device performance with the enhanced conversion efficiency by a factor of 1.22 under AM 1.5 sunlight: The photovoltaic performance of the BD/WCM-based DSSC exhibited remarkably high values, J sc of 17.72 mA/cm 2 , V oc of 720 mV, and a conversion efficiency of 9.28% at 100 mW cm . Therefore, the Eu(III)-cored complex is a promising candidate as a new wavelength conversion coadsorbent for highly efficient dyesensitized solar cells to improve UV light harvesting through energy transfer processes. The abstract should be a single paragraph which summaries the content of the article

Enhancing solar cell efficiency: the search for luminescent materials as spectral converters

“…Europium complexes that feature a main emission at 612 nm have been investigated for c-Si and DSSCs. [412][413][414][415][416][417][418][419][420] In contrast, Tb 3+ -based organic complexes are more suitable for amorphous Si solar cells with a wavelength of maximum efficiency at about 500 nm. 421,422 In particular, NIR-emitting metal-organic frameworks that contain Yb 3+ or Nd 3+ are promising candidates for c-Si solar cells.…”

Research Progress of Europium Complexes Luminescent Materials

“…Kim et al [32] anchored the rare earth europium luminous complex with carboxylic acid group on the surface of nanometer titanium dioxide and prepared liquid dye sensitized solar cell with ruthenium complex as sensibilizers. It was found that it could improve the utilization rate of solar energy.…”