Graphene nanosheets as counter electrode with phenoxazine dye for efficient dye sensitized solar cell

Efficient dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are developed using phenoxazine (POZ) based organic dye (WS5) and graphene nanosheets (GNs) counter electrode (CE). Being organic, both these materials are used together to explore compatibility of organic materials in current DSSCs. Organic dye with POZ moiety is synthesized and graphene oxide nanosheets (GONs) are spin coated on FTO glass and thermally reduced afterwards. To increase the performance of WS5 through decreased dye aggregation, deoxycholic acid (DCA) is added to it. The results of adding DCA are observed and compared using UV–Vis spectroscopy, external quantum efficiency (EQE), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE). Prepared organic dye based DSSC cell results in a high PCE of 6.61%. The optimized WS5 dye and GNs CE, shows PCE of 5.77% and the GNs CE compared to Pt CE results in almost identical charge transfer resistance value at the CE/electrolyte interface. Low cost of this designed organic dye and GNs and the PCE results indicate that this combination may result in the reduction of cost of current DSSCs and the realization that expensive and rare inorganic materials can be replaced with organic ones in future.     

自食其果

通过废水厂弄虚作假,把污水排放到河里的故事,说明处理废水是一项非常严肃而重要的工作。     

抽运染料激光主振荡-功率放大链的固体激光脉冲时序控制

对于多台固体激光器抽运的脉冲染料激光主振荡-功率放大(MOPA)链,在放大器中,抽运激光与染料种子激光不仅在空间上要求匹配,而且激光脉冲在时间上也要求匹配。为此,提出了进行激光脉冲时序的控制方法。该方法采用光纤、光开关和随机重复采样等技术实现快速激光脉冲的计算机数据采集。根据实验,抽运和染料激光脉冲的时间匹配最好时,它们的峰值几乎是重合的,由此提出以脉冲峰值处作为延迟时间的测量点来排除脉宽变化的影响,以及采用二次多项式曲线拟合的数据处理技术来排除峰值处延迟时间的测量干扰,实现抽运激光脉冲时序纳秒级的测量和闭环控制。控制系统的手动单步控制误差和延迟时间测量误差小于±0.2 ns,闭环控制精度可达±1 ns。     

Ultranarrow Bandwidth Organic Photodiodes by Exchange Narrowing in Merocyanine H‐ and J‐Aggregate Excitonic Systems

Ultranarrowband organic photodiodes (OPDs) are demonstrated for thin film solid state materials composed of tightly packed dipolar merocyanine dyes. For these dyes the packing arrangement can be controlled by the bulkiness of the donor substituent, leading to either strong H‐ or strong J‐type exciton coupling in the interesting blue (H‐aggregate) and NIR (J‐aggregate) spectral ranges. Both bands are shown to arise from one single exciton band according to fluorescence measurements and are not just a mere consequence of different polymorphs within the same thin film. By fabrication of organic thin‐film transistors, these dyes are demonstrated to exhibit hole transport behavior in spin‐coated thin films. Moreover, when used as organic photodiodes in planar heterojunctions with C₆₀ fullerene, they show wavelength‐selective photocurrents in the solid state with maximum external quantum efficiencies of up to 11% and ultranarrow bandwidths down to 30 nm. Thereby, narrowing the linewidths of optoelectronic functional materials by exciton coupling provides a powerful approach to produce ultranarrowband organic photodiodes.     

29种天然染料敏化的太阳电池的性能研究

采用超声波萃取法从29种天然植物中提取染料, 测试天然染料的紫外-可见光(UV-vis)吸收光谱,探讨天然染料所 含的色素种类。采用水热法制备了TiO₂薄膜电极,用所提取的29种天然染料敏化TiO₂光 电极并将其组装成染料敏化太阳电池(DSSCs)。测试天然染料敏化的DSSCs 的光电性能结果显示,天然染料敏化的DSSCs的开路 电压Voc为0.46~0.64 V,短路电流I_sc为0.07~3.61mA· cm－2,其中山竹皮敏 化的DSSCs光电性能最佳,对应的I_sc和光电转换 效率η分 别为3.61mA·cm－2和2.13%。从天然 染料中挑选出7种不同吸收波段色素的染料进行协同敏化,UV-vis吸收光谱测试结 果显示混合染料的吸收峰一般有微小偏移。光电性能测试结果表明,协同敏化后的DSSCs的 性能一般都介于天然染料单独敏 化的两个DSSCs的性能之间,其中山竹皮和芥蓝协同敏化的DSSCs的η最高,为1.70%。对实验结果进行深入分析,探讨提高天然染料 敏化的DSSCs光电性能的途径。     

Novel organic dyes containing N-bridged oligothiophene coplanar cores for dye-sensitized solar cells

Three novel organic dyes adopting fully-fused coplanar heteroarene as the donor moieties end-capped with two cyanoacrylic acids as acceptors and anchoring groups have been synthesized, characterized, and used as the sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The photophysical and electrochemical properties of the novel dyes and the characteristics of the DSSCs based on the novel organic dyes were investigated. The incorporation of the coplanar cores with electron-donating N-bridges are beneficial for the better intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), giving these new dyes good light-harvesting capability. The LUMO energy levels of these coplanar heteroacene-based dyes are sufficiently high for the efficient electron injection to TiO₂ upon photo-excitation, while the suitable HOMOs allow the regeneration of oxidized dyes with the electrolyte redox (I⁻/I₃⁻). The structural features of the coplanar cores (penta vs. hexa heteroarene) as well as the alkyl substitutions play crucial roles in governing the physical properties and device performance. Among these three novel organic sensitizers, the EHTt dye composed of a fully fused hexa-arene core and less bulky N-alkyl groups caused the DSSC to show the best photovoltaic performance with an open-circuit voltage (V_OC) of 0.58 V, a short-circuit photocurrent density (J_SC) of 13.72 mA/cm², and a fill factor (FF) of 0.69, yielding an overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.52% under AM 1.5G solar irradiation.     

Insights into corrosion in dye solar cells

The main issue in using low cost metals in dye solar cells is the corrosion caused by the liquid electrolyte. Contrary to typical applications of metals, the adverse effects of corrosion in dye solar cells are related to irreversible depletion of charge carriers from the electrolyte rather than consumption of the metal itself. It is calculated that the penetration rate due to corrosion should not exceed 10⁻⁴ mpy (a couple of nanometers per year) to ensure device lifetime longer than 1 year. This is 10 000 times slower rate than what is considered to be a general benchmark value for very low corrosion rate in the field of corrosion science and has a major effect on how corrosion should be investigated in the case of dye solar cells. Different methods, their applicability, and limitations to investigate corrosion in dye solar cells are evaluated here. The issue with most techniques is that they can detect metals that are clearly corroding, but they have significant limitations in proving a metal stable. Our investigation shows that the most reliable information on corrosion is obtained from complete dye solar cells that are exposed to working conditions. A combination of color analysis of the electrolyte to such measurement is proposed as a means to extrapolate future performance of the cells and estimate potential lifetimes of the dye solar cells in regards to corrosion. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DMF微滤膜的应用特点

文章阐述了微滤膜在电路板废水方面的应用,并将其与传统的斜板沉淀及现行的超滤系统进行了比较,突出了微滤系统在电路板废水回用方面的优势。     

Efficient Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells with Potential‐Tunable Organic Sulfide Mediators and Graphene‐Modified Carbon Counter Electrodes

A new class of organic sulfide mediators with programmable redox properties is designed via density functional theory calculations and synthesized for efficient dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Photophysical and electrochemical properties of these mediators derived from systematical functionalization of the framework with electron donating and withdrawing groups (MeO, Me, H, Cl, CF₃, and NO₂) are investigated. With this new class of organic mediators, the redox potential can be fine‐tuned over a 170 mV range, overlapping the conventional I^?/I₃^?couple. Due to the suitable interplay of physical properties and electrochemical characteristics of the mediator involving electron‐donating MeO group, the DSCs based on this mediator behave excellently in various kinetic processes such as dye regeneration, electron recombination, and mass transport. Thus, the MeO derivative of the mediator is identified as having the best performance of this series of redox shuttles. As inferred from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry measurements, the addition of graphene into the normal carbon counter electrode material dramatically improves the apparent catalytic activity of the counter electrode towards the MeO derivative of mediator, resulting in N719 based DSCs showing a promising conversion efficiency of 6.53% under 100 mW·cm^?2 simulated sunlight illumination.     

Densification of Oxide Nanoparticle Thin Films by Irradiation with Visible Light

A technique is presented that allows for altering of the physical characteristics of films of TiO₂ nanoparticles by exposure to visible light. In this technique, dye‐sensitized oxide nanoparticles are deposited on a substrate by dip‐coating. Photodissociation of the organic ligand layer leads to cross‐linking of the nanoparticles. Consequently, irradiated films have a decreased porosity, an increased index of refraction and an increased hydrophobicity. Films irradiated with green light are compared to films irradiated with UV light. Within experimental error, visible‐ and UV‐illumination induces the same changes in the films. The mechanism of surfactant elimination in dye‐sensitized oxide particles is discussed, patterning is demonstrated, and prospective applications of the technique are considered.