Biophotovoltaic solid state solar cells are new friendly environmentally solar cells inspired by photosynthesis phenomena. Photosystem I, a complex protein located in the chloroplast of the plant leaves that has a principal role in light absorption, is the most common light absorber used in biophotovoltaic solid state solar cells. Low efficiency and low current density are the main challenges in this kind of solar cell. In the present study, to vacillate the motion of electrons and holes, we use carbon nanotubes and tyrosine as transfer layers and to increase light absorbance, a solution of photosystem I with silver nanoparticles as an absorber layer is used. We show that the short circuit current density and the efficiency can be enhanced to 6.61 mA/cm2 and 0.83%, respectively which are the highest values for current density and efficiency reported for this kind of solar cell. These enhancements are due to the high electrical conductivity of carbon nanotubes, proper porosity of tyrosine and the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of silver nanoparticles induced under light irradiation. Our results can illuminate hopes and dreams for biophotovoltaic solid state solar cells with higher current density and higher efficiency.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Biohybrid solar cells, which are inspired by photosynthesis process in plants, are new low‐cost and environmentally friendly solar cells. In this kind of solar cells, photosystem I (PSI), which is the main part of photosynthesis process, is used as light absorber layer. Herein, PSI is extracted from some easily accessible plants, including spinach, Tung‐Oh, chye sim, local endive, beet greens, leek, Swiss chard, and romaine lettuce, and their light absorbance properties are studied. It is shown that the optical bandgap of PSI extracted from all of these plants is about 1.8 eV which indicates the potential of these plants for use in biohybrid solar cells. It is shown that, due to the higher light absorbance, spinach is the best plant for this kind of solar cells. Also, the effect of temperature on light absorbance of PSI extracted from spinach is investigated and shows that the light absorbance of PSI considerably decreases at high‐temperature values. Furthermore, alkaline and acidic environments on PSI light absorbance are studied and shows that the alkaline pH stress has no destructive effect on light absorbance, while the acidic pH stress causes a considerable decrease in light absorbance which is important in biohybrid solar cell fabrication.
Using first principle calculations, we study the structural, optical and electronic properties of two-dimensional silicene-like structures of CSi 7 (carbosilicene) and GeSi 7 (germasilicene) monolayers. We show that both CSi 7 and GeSi 7 monolayers have different buckling that promises a new way to control the buckling in silicene-like structures. Carbon impurity decreases the silicene buckling, whereas germanium impurity increases it. The CSi 7 has semiconducting properties with 0.25 indirect band gap, but GeSi 7 is a semimetal. Also, under uniaxial tensile strain, the semiconducting properties of CSi 7 convert to metallic properties which shows that CSi 7 can be used in straintronic devices such as strain sensor and strain switch. There is no important response for GeSi 7 under strain. The GeSi 7 has higher dielectric constant relative to CSi 7 , silicene and graphene and it can be used as a 2D-material in high performance capacitors. Calculation of cohesive and formation energies show that CSi 7 is more stable than GeSi 7 . Furthermore, we investigate the optical properties of these new materials and we show that CSi 7 and GeSi 7 can significantly increase the light absorption of silicene. The obtained results can pave a new route for tuning the electronic and optical properties of silicene like structures for different applications in nanoelectronic devices.
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