Volume 8, Issue 6 (June 2021), Pages: 128-135
----------------------------------------------
Original Research Paper
Title: Synthesis, characterization, and performance of oligothiophene cyanoacrylic acid derivatives for solar cell applications
Author(s): H. Al-Dmour 1, Salah Al-Trawneh 2, Samir Al-Taweel 2, *
Affiliation(s):
1Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Mu'tah University, Mu'tah, Jordan
2Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Mu'tah University, Mu’tah, Jordan
Full Text - PDF XML
* Corresponding Author.
Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0250-4187
Digital Object Identifier:
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2021.06.015
Abstract:
New dye sensitizers based on an oligothiophene cyanoacrylic acid derivative were synthesized and characterized for solar cell applications. The structures of the new dyes prepared as sensitizers based on oligothiophenes, namely5,5''-di-2-cyanoacrylic acid [2,2':5',2''-terthiophene] (dye1), [2,2':5',2''-terthiophene]-5-cyanoacrylic acid(dye2), and [2,2':5',2'':5'',2'''-quaterthiophene]-5-cyanoacrylic acid(dye3) were confirmed by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, and 1H-NMR spectral data. The P3HT/dye2/nc-TiO2 solar cell produced the highest efficiency of 0.05% with an open circuit voltage of 0.65V compared to dyes 1 and 3 solar cells. That may have been attributed to the dyes’ molecular structure, which had different chain lengths and numbers of groups of cyanoacrylic connected to the dyes’ thiophene moiety The dark current suppressed in the P3HT/dye2/nc-TiO2 solar cells indicated the formation of the charge blocking layer, which produced an enhanced open-circuit voltage accompanied by a high onset voltage.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: Oligothiophene cyanoacrylic acid, Dye sensitizers, J-V characteristic, Synthesis, Nc-TiO2 semiconductor
Article History: Received 2 November 2020, Received in revised form 11 February 2021, Accepted 3 March 2021
Acknowledgment
The authors wish to thank the Scientific Research Support Fund in Jordan under the program SRF 2010/07/01.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Citation:
Al-Dmour H, Al-Trawneh S, and Al-Taweel S (2021). Synthesis, characterization, and performance of oligothiophene cyanoacrylic acid derivatives for solar cell applications. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 8(6): 128-135
Permanent Link to this page
Figures
Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Fig. 10
Tables
Table 1
----------------------------------------------
References (14)
- Al-Dmour H (2014). Effect of ambient air condition on low frequency negative capacitance of nc-TiO2/P3HT heterojuction solar cells. American Journal of Applied Science, 11(8): 1351-1356. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2014.1351.1356 [Google Scholar]
- Baxter J (2012). Commercialization of dye sensitized solar cells: Present status and future research needs to improve efficiency, stability, and manufacturing. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, 30(2): 020801. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.3676433 [Google Scholar]
- Burschka J, Pellet N, Moon SJ, Humphry-Baker R, Gao P, Nazeeruddin MK, and Grätzel M (2013). Sequential deposition as a route to high-performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells. Nature, 499(7458): 316-319. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12340 [Google Scholar] PMid:23842493
- Hagfeldt A, Boschloo G, Sun L, Lars K, and Pettersson H (2010). Dye-sensitized solar cells. Chemical Reviews, 110(11): 6595-6663. https://doi.org/10.1021/cr900356p [Google Scholar] PMid:20831177
- Knoevenagel E (1894). Ueber eine darstellungsweise der glutarsäure. Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, 27(2): 2345-2346. https://doi.org/10.1002/cber.189402702229 [Google Scholar]
- Li N, Lassiter BE, Lunt RR, Wei G, and Forrest SR (2009). Open circuit voltage enhancement due to reduced dark current in small molecule photovoltaic cells. Applied Physics Letters, 94(2): 13. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3072807 [Google Scholar]
- Nazeeruddin MK, Kay A, Rodicio I, Humphry-Baker R, Müller E, Liska P, and Grätzel M (1993). Conversion of light to electricity by cis-X2bis (2, 2'-bipyridyl-4, 4'-dicarboxylate) ruthenium (II) charge-transfer sensitizers (X= Cl-, Br-, I-, CN-, and SCN-) on nanocrystalline titanium dioxide electrodes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 115(14): 6382-6390. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00067a063 [Google Scholar]
- O'regan B and Grätzel M (1991). A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films. Nature, 353(6346): 737-740. https://doi.org/10.1038/353737a0 [Google Scholar]
- Saleh NI, Al-Trawneh S, Al-Dmour H, Al-Taweel S, and Graham JP (2015). Effect of molecular-level insulation on the performance of a dye-sensitized solar cell: Fluorescence studies in solid state. Journal of Fluorescence, 25(1): 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-014-1479-8 [Google Scholar] PMid:25398318
- Selopal GS, Wu HP, Lu J, Chang YC, Wang M, Vomiero A, and Diau EWG (2016). Metal-free organic dyes for TiO2 and ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells. Scientific Reports, 6: 18756. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep18756 [Google Scholar] PMid:26738698 PMCid:PMC4704050
- Stille JK (1986). The palladium‐catalyzed cross‐coupling reactions of organotin reagents with organic electrophiles [new synthetic methods (58)]. Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English, 25(6): 508-524. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.198605081 [Google Scholar]
- Tamao K, Kodama S, Nakajima I, Kumada M, Minato A, and Suzuki AK (1982). Nickel-phosphine complex-catalyzed Grignard coupling—II: Grignard coupling of heterocyclic compounds. Tetrahedron, 38(22): 3347-3354. https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-4020(82)80117-8 [Google Scholar]
- Wang R, Nakar R, Jiang Y, Berton N, Wu S, Wang Q, and Gao J (2020). Fluorinated interfacial layers in perovskite solar cells: Efficient enhancement of the fill factor. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 8(32): 16527-16533. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA05033D [Google Scholar]
- Yella A, Lee HW, Tsao HN, Yi C, Chandiran AK, Nazeeruddin MK, and Grätzel M (2011). Porphyrin-sensitized solar cells with cobalt (II/III)–based redox electrolyte exceed 12 percent efficiency. Science, 334(6056): 629-634. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1209688 [Google Scholar] PMid:22053043
|