Enhanced dye-sensitized solar cell photocurrent and efficiency using a Y-shaped, pyrazine-containing heteroaromatic sensitizer linkage.

A new sensitizer motif for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) has been developed. A heteroaromatic moiety containing a pyrazine ring links two porphyrin chromophores to the metal oxide surface via two carboxylic acid attachment groups. A test DSSC sensitized with the new molecule was 3.5 times more efficient than a similar cell sensitized by a single porphyrin model compound. The open circuit photovoltage was increased by a modest factor of 1.3, but the photocurrent increased by a factor of 2.7. Most of the increase is attributed to a reduced rate of charge recombination of the charge separated state formed by photoinduced electron transfer from the excited sensitizer to the TiO2, although some of the difference is due to increased light absorption resulting from more dye on the photoanode. Increased light absorption due to the pyrazine-containing group may also play a role. The design illustrated here could also be used to link complementary sensitizers or antenna moieties in order to increase spectral coverage.

Cross-Linkable, Solvent-Resistant Fullerene Contacts for Robust and Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells with Increased JSC and VOC.

The active layers of perovskite solar cells are also structural layers and are central to ensuring that the structural integrity of the device is maintained over its operational lifetime. Our work evaluating the fracture energies of conventional and inverted solution-processed MAPbI3 perovskite solar cells has revealed that the MAPbI3 perovskite exhibits a fracture resistance of only ∼0.5 J/m2, while solar cells containing fullerene electron transport layers fracture at even lower values, below ∼0.25 J/m2. To address this weakness, a novel styrene-functionalized fullerene derivative, MPMIC60, has been developed as a replacement for the fragile PC61BM and C60 transport layers. MPMIC60 can be transformed into a solvent-resistant material through curing at 250 °C. As-deposited films of MPMIC60 exhibit a marked 10-fold enhancement in fracture resistance over PC61BM and a 14-fold enhancement over C60. Conventional-geometry perovskite solar cells utilizing cured films of MPMIC60 showed a significant, 205% improvement in fracture resistance while exhibiting only a 7% drop in PCE (13.8% vs 14.8% PCE) in comparison to the C60 control, enabling larger VOC and JSC values. Inverted cells fabricated with MPMIC60 exhibited a 438% improvement in fracture resistance with only a 6% reduction in PCE (12.3% vs 13.1%) in comparison to those utilizing PC61BM, again producing a higher JSC.