Peptide Materials in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Emanuela Gatto, Raffaella Lettieri, Luigi Vesce and Mariano Venanzi
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Emanuela Gatto: Department of Chemical Science and Technologies, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Roma, Italy
Raffaella Lettieri: Department of Chemical Science and Technologies, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Roma, Italy
Luigi Vesce: CHOSE-Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Roma, Italy
Mariano Venanzi: Department of Chemical Science and Technologies, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, 00133 Roma, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-13

Abstract: In September 2015, the ONU approved the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development, by which all countries of the world are mobilized to adopt a set of goals to be achieved by 2030. Within these goals, the aim of having a responsible production and consumption, as well as taking climate action, made is necessary to design new eco-friendly materials. Another important UN goal is the possibility for all the countries in the world to access affordable energy. The most promising and renewable energy source is solar energy. Current solar cells use non-biodegradable substrates, which generally contribute to environmental pollution at the end of their life cycles. Therefore, the production of green and biodegradable electronic devices is a great challenge, prompted by the need to find sustainable alternatives to the current materials, particularly in the field of dye-sensitized solar cells. Within the green alternatives, biopolymers extracted from biomass, such as polysaccharides and proteins, represent the most promising materials in view of a circular economy perspective. In particular, peptides, due to their stability, good self-assembly properties, and ease of functionalization, may be good candidates for the creation of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology. This work shows an overview of the use of peptides in DSSC. Peptides, due to their unique self-assembling properties, have been used both as dyes (mimicking natural photosynthesis) and as templating materials for TiO 2 morphology. We are just at the beginning of the exploitation of these promising biomolecules, and a great deal of work remains to be done.

Keywords: peptide; solar energy; sustainability; dye sensitized solar cell (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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