Nano-bio hybrids of plasmonic metals/photosynthetic proteins for broad-band light absorption enhancement in organic solar cells

Yao, Kai; Jiao, Huifeng; Xu, Yun‐Xiang; He, Qiqi; Fan, Li

doi:10.1039/c6ta04356a

Cited by 24 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Most ternary OSC active layers are produced by co-deposition of the three active materials, but sequential deposition of a light-harvesting antenna and a binary BHJ active layer also constitutes a viable strategy to improve the OSC device performances. This approach was explored with natural dyes and light-harvesting complexes integrated as interlayers in BHJ–OSCs [32,51,54,55]. For example, Yao et al investigated the LHCIIb light-harvesting complex inclusion into P3HT:PC 61 BMBHJ–OSCs (Figure 9) [54].…”

Section: Oscs With Natural Complexes As Light-harvesting Interlayersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Dyes and Their Derivatives Integrated into Organic Solar Cells

Vohra

2018

Materials

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Natural photosynthetic systems contain several dyes such as carotenoids or chlorophylls which are adequately arranged to produce efficient photoinduced charge separation and electron transfer. Several research groups have attempted integrating these natural dyes and photosynthetic systems into functional organic solar cells (OSCs) producing power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) up to 0.99%. The studies presented in this short review emphasize that functionalization of natural dyes can considerably improve their PCEs. For instance, chlorophyll derivatives can yield PCEs up to 2.1%, and copolymers produced with isoindigo as an electron-deficient unit generate high PCEs up to 8%, respectively, when combined with fullerene C70 based electron acceptors in the OSC active layers. An alternative approach for natural dye integration into OSC architectures is to place these light-harvesting antennas at the interface between the active layer and the charge collection layers in these low-cost photovoltaic devices. This strategy produces large PCE increases up to 35% with respect to OSCs prepared without the interlayer. When light-harvesting systems are combined with silver nanoprisms as interlayers, additional localized surface plasmon resonance effects result in high-performance OSCs that integrate natural photosynthetic systems and demonstrate a PCE over the milestone value of 10%.

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Section: Oscs With Natural Complexes As Light-harvesting Interlayersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Dyes and Their Derivatives Integrated into Organic Solar Cells

Vohra

2018

Materials

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“…Though the in‐device interfacial electronic structures are not explored in the field of biophotovoltaics, in the recent few years there are a number of reports adopting design principles based on “band gap approach.” Stepping beyond the conventional bio‐electrochemical cells, in these reports, attempts are made either to construct solid‐state multilayered devices with exciton/charge transfer modes decided purely based on band‐structure approach or to introduce certain new design principles based on the band‐gap approach in a biohybrid device retaining a basic electrochemical cell design. The first category of devices is solid‐state photovoltaic cells integrated with photosynthetic proteins which include design principles adopted both from the natural photosynthesis and from the conventional photovoltaics.…”

Section: Band‐structure Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several recent reports have attempted to enhance the output of the biohybrid solar cells through the use of surface plasmons . A nano‐biohybrid cell has been recently reported with silver (Ag) nanoparticles which aid in photocurrent enhancement assisted by surface plasmon effect . The device architecture involved a typical structure similar to that in Figure f where the photosynthetic complexes are used as interlayers and not as primary photoactive layers.…”

Section: New Design Principles In Biophotovoltaicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the nanoparticles were incorporated into the light harvesting complexes the photoactivity of the LHC2 complex was enhanced significantly due to the localized surface plasmon resonance of the Ag NPs. These nanoparticles enhanced the performance of the device mainly by means of two factors: (1) broadband optical absorption enhancement caused by the complementary absorption of the Ag NPs and (2) increased light harvesting by the LHC2 complexes due to the LSPR effect (Figure b).…”

Section: New Design Principles In Biophotovoltaicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: New Design Principles In Biophotovoltaicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Emerging Role of the Band‐Structure Approach in Biohybrid Photovoltaics: A Path Beyond Bioelectrochemistry

Ravi

Udayagiri

Suresh

et al. 2017

Adv Funct Materials

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Emulation of natural photosynthesis is central to modern photovoltaic research targeting sustainable and economic ways of solar energy harvesting. Natural photosynthetic systems have succeeded in efficiently harvesting solar energy which is key to the sustenance of life on earth. With numerous advances in understanding the structure and function of the natural photosystems, the last decade has witnessed new perspectives in developing bioinspired photovoltaics. Interestingly, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) adopting photosynthetic design principles and biophotovoltaics (BPVs) adopting solidstate device architectures have now converged at a juncture. Several reports in recent years point to a new scope of improvement in OPVs and BPVs stemming from mutual inspiration. At this juncture, there are new perspectives by which a BPV can be designed that were previously limited only to conventional optoelectronics. Treating natural pigment-proteins as optically and electronically functional materials in any photovoltaic design, from the band-theory viewpoint, is a promising direction for advancing BPVs beyond the boundaries of bioelectrochemistry. This article presents an overview of selected reports on BPVs in the last few years utilizing new design concepts based on band-theory and its associated principles. In light of this, the scope of the band-structure approach in BPVs is discussed, eliciting prospective research directions.

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Knocking the Stability of Solar Cells with Fluorescent Protein Donors upon Rationalizing Design, Integration, and Mechanism

Chowdhury,

Nieddu,

Patrian

et al. 2024

Adv Materials Technologies

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Though photon‐induced electron donor features of fluorescent proteins (FPs) in solution suggest them as excellent photosensitizers, their poor stability upon device fabrication/operation is the today's frontier. This relates to their immediate denaturation in water‐free/less environments: inorganic/organic device interfaces and/or organic solvent surroundings. This study provides a fresh solution with a family of hybrid FPs, in which the peripheral carboxylic groups of archetypal FPs ‐superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) and mCherry‐ are transformed into alkoxysilane groups, enabling a straightforward integration with surprising stabilities over months in devices – arbitrary n/p‐type semiconducting metal oxide/FP/organic‐solvent electrolyte interfaces – attributed to the formation of an ion‐silica shell around the FP. This further allowed to understand the charge injection mechanism applying steady‐state/time‐resolved spectroscopy on different FP‐variants with key single‐point aromatic amino acid mutations at the chromophore nearest, revealing the electron‐donor hopping pathway via the initial loop of the strand β7. Finally, devices with state‐of‐the‐art solar‐to‐energy conversion efficiencies that are stable >2,000 h under operation nicely outperform the prior‐art stability of a few seconds/minutes in FP‐based solar cells. Hence, this work solves the integration/stability issues which blocking the application of FP‐based sensitizer, as well provides a solid understanding of their photo‐induced electron transfer mechanism.

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Nano-bio hybrids of plasmonic metals/photosynthetic proteins for broad-band light absorption enhancement in organic solar cells

Cited by 24 publications

References 44 publications

Natural Dyes and Their Derivatives Integrated into Organic Solar Cells

Natural Dyes and Their Derivatives Integrated into Organic Solar Cells

Emerging Role of the Band‐Structure Approach in Biohybrid Photovoltaics: A Path Beyond Bioelectrochemistry

Knocking the Stability of Solar Cells with Fluorescent Protein Donors upon Rationalizing Design, Integration, and Mechanism

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