Organic dyes for the sensitization of nanostructured ZnO photoanodes: effect of the anchoring functions

Idígoras, Jesús; Godfroy, Maxime; Joly, Damien O.; Todinova, Anna; Maldivi, Pascale; Oskam, Gerko; Demadrille, Renaud; Anta, Juan A.

doi:10.1039/c5ra11762c

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(84 reference statements)

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“…Additionally, their semitransparent feature promises potential for applications in solar windows − and as passive energy harvesters in wearable devices and textiles. − A chemical dye acts as the light harvester in DSSCs. The dye molecules are chemically adsorbed onto a wide-band gap semiconductor layer, such as TiO 2 , and ZnO, − , to form a dye···TiO 2 interfacial structure that constitutes the DSSC working electrode. The dyes generate charges and the semiconductor layer is used for transporting charge carriers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6−9 A chemical dye acts as the light harvester in DSSCs. The dye molecules are chemically adsorbed onto a wide-band gap semiconductor layer, such as TiO 2 10,11 and ZnO, [12][13][14][15]15 to form a dye•••TiO 2 interfacial structure that constitutes the DSSC working electrode. The dyes generate charges and the semiconductor layer is used for transporting charge carriers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dye Aggregation, Photostructural Reorganization and Multiple Concurrent Dye···TiO₂ Binding Modes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Working Electrodes Containing Benzothiadiazole-Based Dye RK-1

Chen

Gong

Vázquez‐Mayagoitia

et al. 2019

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

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Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are widely considered to be promising contenders for the next generation of photovoltaic devices. The light-harvesting component in the DSSCs, that is, the sensitizers, are adsorbed onto the semiconductor layer to form the photoelectrode that absorbs solar energy and converts it into electrical power. The choice of dye has a profound impact on the DSSC performance. Thus, substantial research efforts have been devoted to the development and testing of a large variety of sensitizers during the past decades. We, herein, focus our attention on the metal-free benzothiadiazole-based dye, 2-cyano-3-(4-(7-(5-(4-(diphenylamino)phenyl)-4-octylthiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol-4-yl)phenyl) acrylic acid (RK-1), which exhibits excellent power conversion efficiency and high stability. Simulations and experiments were combined to conduct a systematic study of its optical and structural properties. RK-1 shows a broad absorption band over the visible region and the formation of H aggregates in solution. Deprotonation of the cyanoacrylic acid group in RK-1 occurs upon dye adsorption onto TiO 2 . This induces a hypsochromic shift of the absorption band. The emission spectrum of RK-1 shows a broad band and a large Stokes shift (6949 cm −1 ), indicating the presence of several different structural reorganization processes during excitation. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations reveal that intramolecular charge transfer in RK-1 molecules should be predominantly attributed to the HOMO− LUMO transition. DFT modeling also reveals the involvement of the cyano group of RK-1 in anchoring to TiO 2 , which makes the dye•••TiO 2 binding structure more stable. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy data prove that bridging bidentate (BB) and COO/CN (A2) binding modes coexist in the RK-1•••TiO 2 interfacial structure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dye Aggregation, Photostructural Reorganization and Multiple Concurrent Dye···TiO₂ Binding Modes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Working Electrodes Containing Benzothiadiazole-Based Dye RK-1

Chen

Gong

Vázquez‐Mayagoitia

et al. 2019

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

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“…Many functional groups could be used to functionalize CrSi2 surfaces due to the presence of two different atoms. Phosphonic acids are largely used in the functionalization of metal oxide surfaces such as TiO2, ZrO2 23 , ZnO 24 , ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) 25 , SnO2 26 and one example is reported for phosphonic acid group grafting on Co-Cr alloy oxide layer 27 . The interest of silane groups is well established as they are used in many applications such as chromatography, liquid crystal displays and microelectronics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transition metal silicide surface grafting by multiple functional groups and green optimization by mechanochemistry

Godfroy

Khalil

Niebel

et al. 2019

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.

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“…Alternatively, strong efforts addressed the study of substituting organometallic dye with organic and natural ones . Metal‐free light absorbance molecules have easily tunable opto‐electronic properties and are more suitable for large scale production because of lower cost and availability of basic components, with respect of noble metals like ruthenium .…”

Section: Surface‐engineering Of Zno Nanostructures With Nanoparticlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Engineering of Nanostructured ZnO Surfaces

Laurenti

Stassi

Canavese

et al. 2016

Adv Materials Inter

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are oriented in one direction and their assembly and stacking produces the wurtzite hexagonal symmetry. The noncentrosymmetric and anisotropic crystalline structure of wurtzite-like ZnO generates very interesting properties such as piezo-and pyro-electricity: the application of an external stimulus, like mechanical stress or temperature, deforms the tetrahedron structure. This deformation results in a separation between the positive and negative centers of charge, inducing the formation of a dipole moment. [7,8] The polar surface and anisotropic structure of ZnO can be usefully exploited to form different kinds of micro and nanostructures from 0D to 3D, [5] including, but not limited to nanowires, [9][10][11][12] nanotubes, [13,14] nanobelts, [15][16][17][18][19] nanorings, [20] flower-like morphologies, [21][22][23][24][25] multipods, [26,27] tetrapods, [28][29][30] sponge-like structures [31][32][33][34] and so on [29,[35][36][37][38][39] (Figure 1). Therefore, several research efforts have been invested in studying various preparation procedures for ZnO micro and nano-materials. Wet chemical approaches, like sol-gel, hydrothermal growths, electrodeposition and template-assisted routes, [40,41] as well as vapor-phase methods, for example chemical vapour deposition (CVD), physical vapour deposition (PVD) including sputtering and evaporation approaches, [42][43][44] and epitaxial growth methods [45] are among the most used ones. The great advantages of the wet chemical approaches are the high synthesis versatility, low temperature employed and low costs. [9] From the other side, dry methods take advantage of the high quality and excellent control over the level of crystallinity of the synthesized ZnO structures, as well as the absence of contamination and high purity of the final material. [46] The combination of different properties with the ease and high versatile synthesis of ZnO material in different micro and nanostructures offers a huge possibility of potential applications.For example, ZnO is already used as an efficient catalyst in the selective oxidation of involving oxygenates (i.e., alcohols, aldehydes, and carboxylic acids) and in methanol synthesis catalysts. It is also largely applied as protective, anti-corrosion layer in galvanized steel products, [49][50][51] as well as in paints and sunscreens as an UV absorber. Its biocompatibility makes this material suitable, in the form of microparticles, for paste formulations in cosmetic applications.The combination of the piezoelectric with the semiconducting properties of ZnO is found to result into new exciting physical properties, [52][53][54] and it has recently opened the research field to energy harvesting application. ZnO nanomaterials can be thus used as nanogenerators, able to convert the mechanical deformation from the surrounding environment into electrical Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanostructures represent promising substrate materials for numerous applications, ranging from new generation solar cells, to bio-and chemical sensors. This interest is due ...

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Organic dyes for the sensitization of nanostructured ZnO photoanodes: effect of the anchoring functions

Cited by 7 publications

References 42 publications

Dye Aggregation, Photostructural Reorganization and Multiple Concurrent Dye···TiO₂ Binding Modes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Working Electrodes Containing Benzothiadiazole-Based Dye RK-1

Dye Aggregation, Photostructural Reorganization and Multiple Concurrent Dye···TiO₂ Binding Modes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Working Electrodes Containing Benzothiadiazole-Based Dye RK-1

Transition metal silicide surface grafting by multiple functional groups and green optimization by mechanochemistry

Surface Engineering of Nanostructured ZnO Surfaces

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Organic dyes for the sensitization of nanostructured ZnO photoanodes: effect of the anchoring functions

Cited by 7 publications

References 42 publications

Dye Aggregation, Photostructural Reorganization and Multiple Concurrent Dye···TiO2 Binding Modes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Working Electrodes Containing Benzothiadiazole-Based Dye RK-1

Dye Aggregation, Photostructural Reorganization and Multiple Concurrent Dye···TiO2 Binding Modes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Working Electrodes Containing Benzothiadiazole-Based Dye RK-1

Transition metal silicide surface grafting by multiple functional groups and green optimization by mechanochemistry

Surface Engineering of Nanostructured ZnO Surfaces

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Dye Aggregation, Photostructural Reorganization and Multiple Concurrent Dye···TiO₂ Binding Modes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Working Electrodes Containing Benzothiadiazole-Based Dye RK-1

Dye Aggregation, Photostructural Reorganization and Multiple Concurrent Dye···TiO₂ Binding Modes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Working Electrodes Containing Benzothiadiazole-Based Dye RK-1