Investigation of the photoinduced electron injection processes for natural dye-sensitized solar cells: the impact of anchoring groups

Akın, Seçkin; Acikgoz, Sabriye; Gülen, Mahir; Akyürek, Cafer; Sönmezoğlu, Savaş

doi:10.1039/c6ra19653e

Cited by 52 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The inset of Figure a shows the absorption spectra of wheat and chickpea DNA in aqueous solutions at ≈260 nm, because of the absorption of aromatic base molecules in its skeleton . The difference in their absorption intensity can be mainly attributed to two factors which are as follows: (i) length of DNA molecule: W (≈100.000 genes) has longer DNA chains than C (≈28 000 genes) and (ii) character of DNA molecule: W (≈13.000 Mbp) has more alkyl group hosted adenine bases than C (≈750 Mbp) As is well‐known, longer alkyl chains enable densely packed adsorption of dye molecules, which passivate well on the surface and/or interior trap states of TiO 2 . Moreover, the long alkyl chain is believed to repel iodide from the TiO 2 surface, and thus, reduce the recombination rate.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Effective Approach for High‐Efficiency Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells by Using Bifunctional DNA Molecules Modified Photoanode

Sönmezoğlu

Akın

Terzi

et al. 2016

Adv Funct Materials

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wileyonlinelibrary.comadsorption and relatively high recombination rate via vacant sites that significantly restrict the photoconversion efficiency (PCE). Therefore, researchers are faced with the challenge of developing efficient suppression routes by designing this component with an efficient charge transport pathway. Although some approaches were reported to suppress the charge recombinations occurring at the TiO 2 /dye interface including the use of inorganic [3,4] as well as polymer-assisted materials, [5][6][7] there are still some practical limitations due to the poor light absorption, low surface area, and slow electron injection. To overcome these limitations, extensive research efforts are directed toward DSSC applications of functionalized photoanode electrodes with novel interface modifiers and toward the design of solar cells. An appropriate interface modifier can play the role of assisting charge separation and also effectively shield the unfavorable reactions which occur from the injected electrons in photoanode's conduction band (CB) to the I 3 − ions in electrolyte and/or to the holes in highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of the dye. [8] Among modifier layers, thin tunneling barrier (TTB) at TiO 2 /dye interface is one of the most efficient and feasible ways, because TTB material is preferred in such a way that its CB is more positive than that of TiO 2 to form an energy barrier which allows electron injection but hinders the recombination reactions as well as passivate the surface states known as the vacant sites.Since then, many groups have attempted to modify photoanode in this system using alternative materials. [5,9,10] However, it has still not been reached to the desired PCE due to lower electron transport efficiency and sensitizing ability, much faster recombination, and difficult bind with TiO 2 or dyes. Alternative to these molecules, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules have attracted research interest as modifier and/or linker because of cost effectiveness/easy fabrication, absorption ability in UV region causing high intersystem quantum yield, and favorable energy levels (HOMO: −5.2 eV; LUMO: −1.1 eV) [11][12][13] to inject charge, its 3D double helix structure confines the entered photons, and these photons snatch electrons after each collision with DNA molecules. This double helix structure is also beneficial for sunlight utilization from all directions. [14] This paper firstly reports the effect of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules extracted from chickpea and wheat plants on the injection/recombination of photogenerated electrons and sensitizing ability of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These high-yield DNA molecules are applied as both linker bridging unit as well as thin tunneling barrier (TTB) at titanium dioxide (TiO 2 )/dye interface, to build up high-efficient DSSCs. With its favorable energy levels, effective linker bridging role, and double helix structure, bifunctional DNA modifier shows an efficient electron injection, suppressed charge recombinati...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Effective Approach for High‐Efficiency Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells by Using Bifunctional DNA Molecules Modified Photoanode

Sönmezoğlu

Akın

Terzi

et al. 2016

Adv Funct Materials

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“…Another work by a different research group revealed that long-hydroxyl and carbonyl-chain bearing anthocyanin generates maximum electron transfer rate (k 3T ) and results in the highest efficiency of 1.87% for anthocyanin with a concentration of 1 g dye per 10 mL water. 24 The use of pomegranate dye has been reported by Ghann et al, which successfully narrowed the band gap, and as a result, the power conversion efficiency of 2.0% was obtained. 11 The use of four synthetic environment-friendly avylium salts as anthocyanin-like sensitizers has been reported by Calogero et al 25 In our previous work, we investigated the pigments of single and combined cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and peonidin-3-Oglucoside with a concentration of 2.0 mM and pH 2.0.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Performance of the dye-sensitized quasi-solid state solar cell with combined anthocyanin-ruthenium photosensitizer

et al. 2020

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“…Previously many natural dyes have not been the promising candidates in terms of efficiency but dyes extracted from yellow‐flamboyant and A. amantacea have competitive efficiency with some inorganic dyes. [ 17–19 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on Efficiency Enhancement Using Natural Extract Mediated Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell for Sustainable Photovoltaics

Bist

Chatterjee

2021

Energy Tech

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Dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have turned a new horizon in energy research due to their widespread exploration over two decades by improving efficiency, cost‐effectiveness, and easy process than inorganic‐based solar cells. The major challenges are metal complexes on designing the cells and sustainability implications for further rapid expansion due to its toxicity. To overcome the problems associated with metal complexes, the dyes are extracted from bionatural sources such as flowers, fruits, barks, petals, roots, leaves, and beans of plants. These organic dyes are being nontoxic, cost‐effective, abundant, environmentally friendly, and easy to extract, which is made them extensively applicable for DSSC. Through this review, readers may get an idea about the effect in the efficiency of the solar cell by applying variable semiconductors, effects of solvents, variable light‐harvesting pigments, types of electrolytes, and modification of counter electrodes by certain polymeric materials or nanomaterials. Furthermore, the effects of methodology, processing temperature, and pH of the medium during synthesis on solar cell parameters, such as the efficiency of DSSC, are critically analyzed which are reported by other researchers.

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Investigation of the photoinduced electron injection processes for natural dye-sensitized solar cells: the impact of anchoring groups

Abstract: In this study, nine different natural dyes having various anchoring groups were extracted from various plants and used as photo-sensitizers in DSSC applications. The photovoltaic parameters were investigated as a function of these anchoring groups.

Cited by 52 publications

References 57 publications

An Effective Approach for High‐Efficiency Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells by Using Bifunctional DNA Molecules Modified Photoanode

An Effective Approach for High‐Efficiency Photoelectrochemical Solar Cells by Using Bifunctional DNA Molecules Modified Photoanode

Performance of the dye-sensitized quasi-solid state solar cell with combined anthocyanin-ruthenium photosensitizer

Review on Efficiency Enhancement Using Natural Extract Mediated Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell for Sustainable Photovoltaics

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