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DSSCs Sensitized with Phenothiazine Derivatives Containing 1H-Tetrazole-5-acrylic Acid as an Anchoring Unit
Muhammad Faisal Amin1,2, Paweł Gnida1, Jan Grzegorz Małecki3
1Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, 34 M. Curie-Skłodowska Str., 41-819 Zabrze, Poland.
Materials (Basel, Switzerland)
|January 8, 2025
Summary
Novel phenothiazine dyes offer a cost-effective alternative to organometallic dyes for high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Modifications enhanced DSSC efficiency to 6.37%, demonstrating their potential in renewable energy.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Photovoltaics
- Organic Chemistry
Background:
- Organometallic dyes are expensive for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).
- Phenothiazine derivatives offer potential as cost-effective photosensitizers due to their electron-donating properties.
- Tuning N-alkyl chain length and incorporating strong acceptor units can enhance DSSC performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize and characterize novel phenothiazine-based D-A dyes with 1H-tetrazole-5-acrylic acid as an acceptor.
- To investigate the photovoltaic performance of these dyes in DSSCs.
- To optimize DSSC efficiency through photoanode modification and tandem cell construction.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of three novel D-A dyes with varying N-alkyl chain lengths.
- Characterization using differential scanning calorimetry, cyclic voltammetry, and differential pulse voltammetry.
- Density functional theory (DFT) calculations for adsorption energy and electronic properties.
- Fabrication and testing of DSSCs, including optimization and tandem cell construction.
Main Results:
- Synthesized phenothiazine derivatives exhibited molecular glass behavior.
- Determined lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels suitable for DSSCs.
- Achieved a maximum power conversion efficiency of 6.37% in tandem DSSCs after optimization.
- Demonstrated significant efficiency increase compared to unmodified DSSCs (2.50%).
Conclusions:
- Phenothiazine-based dyes are promising, cost-effective alternatives for DSSCs.
- Optimized DSSC configurations, including tandem cells, significantly boost photovoltaic efficiency.
- The synthesized dyes show tunable electronic properties and good thermal stability for solar cell applications.
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