Prof Henry Snaith FRS

Abstract:

Hybrid solar cells based on light absorbing semiconducting polymers infiltrated in nanocrystalline TiO 2 electrodes, have emerged as an attractive concept, combining benefits of both low material and processing costs with well controlled nano-scale morphology. However, after over ten years of research effort, power conversion efficiencies remain around 0.5%. Here, a spectroscopic and device based investigation is presented, which leads to a new optimization route where by functionalization of the TiO 2 surface with a molecular electron acceptor promotes photoinduced electron transfer from a low-band gap polymer(poly[2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b;3,4- b0]dithiophene)-alt-4,7-(2,1,3-benzothiadia-zole)] (PCPDTBT) to the metal oxide. This boosts the infrared response and the power conversion efficiency to over 1%. As a further step, by "co-functionalizing" the TiO 2 surface with the electron acceptor and an organic dye-sensitizer, panchromatic spectral photoresponse is achieved in the visible to near-IR region. This novel architecture at the heterojunction opens new material design possibilities and represents an exciting route forward for hybrid photovoltaics. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Abstract:

A new self-assembly platform for the fast and straightforward synthesis of bicontinuous, mesoporous TiO 2 films is presented, based on the triblock terpolymer poly(isoprene-b-styrene-b-ethylene oxide). This new materials route allows the co-assembly of the metal oxide as a fully interconnected minority phase, which results in a highly porous photoanode with strong advantages over the state-of-the-art nanoparticle-based photoanodes employed in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. Devices fabricated through this triblock terpolymer route exhibit a high availability of sub-bandgap states distributed in a narrow and low enough energy band, which maximizes photoinduced charge generation from a state-of-the-art organic dye, C220. As a consequence, the co-assembled mesoporous metal oxide system outperformed the conventional nanoparticle-based electrodes fabricated and tested under the same conditions, exhibiting solar power-conversion efficiencies of over 5%. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Abstract:

Energy relay dyes (ERD) and Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET) are useful techniques for increasing absorption in dye-sensitized solar cells. We use femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to monitor charge generation processes in a solid-state DSC containing poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as both the hole-transporter and the ERD with a zinc phthalocyanine dye (TT1) as the sensitizer. We observe efficient FRET occurring on picosecond time scales and subsequent hole transfer from TT1 to P3HT occurring onward from 100 ps.

Abstract:

Morphology control on the 10 nm length scale in mesoporous TiO(2) films is crucial for the manufacture of high-performance dye-sensitized solar cells. While the combination of block-copolymer self-assembly with sol-gel chemistry yields good results for very thin films, the shrinkage during the film manufacture typically prevents the build-up of sufficiently thick layers to enable optimum solar cell operation. Here, a study on the temporal evolution of block-copolymer-directed mesoporous TiO(2) films during annealing and calcination is presented. The in-situ investigation of the shrinkage process enables the establishment of a simple and fast protocol for the fabrication of thicker films. When used as photoanodes in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells, the mesoporous networks exhibit significantly enhanced transport and collection rates compared to the state-of-the-art nanoparticle-based devices. As a consequence of the increased film thickness, power conversion efficiencies above 4% are reached.