Double Linker Triphenylamine Dyes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Peter J. Holliman, Moneer Mohsen, Arthur Connell, Christopher P. Kershaw, Diana Meza-Rojas, Eurig W. Jones, Dawn Geatches, Kakali Sen and Ya-Wen Hsiao
Additional contact information
Peter J. Holliman: College of Engineering, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK
Moneer Mohsen: Ministry of Science and Technology, Materials Research Directorate, Baghdad, Iraq
Arthur Connell: College of Engineering, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK
Christopher P. Kershaw: College of Engineering, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK
Diana Meza-Rojas: College of Engineering, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK
Eurig W. Jones: College of Engineering, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK
Dawn Geatches: Scientific Computing Department, STFC Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD, UK
Kakali Sen: Scientific Computing Department, STFC Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD, UK
Ya-Wen Hsiao: Scientific Computing Department, STFC Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD, UK

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-16

Abstract: Most organic dyes synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) use a single linker group to bind to the metal oxide photo-anode. Here we describe the synthesis and testing of two new triphenylamine dyes containing either two carboxylic acids 5-[2-(4-diphenylamino-phenyl)-vinyl]-isophthalic acid ( 10 ) or two cyanoacrylic acids (2Z, 2′Z)-3, 3′-(5-((E)-4-(diphenylamino) styryl)-1, 3-phenylene) bis (2-cyanoacrylic acid) ( 8 ) as linker groups. Full characterization data are reported for these dyes and their synthetic intermediates. DSC devices have been prepared from these new dyes either by passive or fast dyeing and the dyes have also been tested in co-sensitized DSC devices leading to a PCE (η = 5.4%) for the double cyanoacrylate linker dye ( 8 ) co-sensitized with D149. The dye:TiO 2 surface interactions and dye excitations are interpreted using three modelling methods: density functional theory (at 0 K); molecular dynamics (at 298 K); time dependent density functional theory. The modelling results show the preferred orientation of both dyes on an anatase (1 0 1) TiO 2 surface to be horizontal, and both the simulated and experimental absorption spectra of the dye molecules indicate a red shifted band for ( 8 ) compared to ( 10 ). This is in line with broader light harvesting and J sc for ( 8 ) compared to ( 10 ).

Keywords: light harvesting; co-sensitization; surface engineering; synthesis; solar energy; atomistic modelling; DFT; MD; TDDFT (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: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4637/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4637/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:18:p:4637-:d:409861

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().