| 1. |
- Ellis, Hanna, 1985-, et al.
(författare)
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Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry of dye-sensitized solar cells : identification of the dye-electrolyte interaction
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Mass Spectrometry. - : Wiley. - 1076-5174 .- 1096-9888. ; 50:5, s. 734-739
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have great potential to provide sustainable electricity from sunlight. The photoanode in DSCs consists of a dye-sensitized metal oxide film deposited on a conductive substrate. This configuration makes the photoanode a perfect sample for laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS). We applied LDI-MS for the study of molecular interactions between a dye and electrolyte on the surface of a TiO2 photoanode. We found that a dye containing polyoxyethylene groups forms complexes with alkali metal cations from the electrolyte, while a dye substituted with alkoxy groups does not. Guanidinium ion forms adducts with neither of the two dyes.
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| 2. |
- Franchi, Daniele, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of the Ancillary Ligand on the Performance of Heteroleptic Cu(I) Diimine Complexes as Dyes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
- 2022
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Ingår i: ACS Applied Energy Materials. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2574-0962. ; 5:2, s. 1460-1470
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A series of heteroleptic Cu(I) diimine complexes with different ancillary ligands and 6,6'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-dibenzoic acid (dbda) as the anchoring ligand were selfassembled on TiO2 surfaces and used as dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The binding to the TiO2 surface was studied by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for a brominecontaining complex, confirming the complex formation. The performance of all complexes was assessed and rationalized on the basis of their respective ancillary ligand. The DSSC photocurrent-voltage characteristics, incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectra, and calculated lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) distributions collectively show a push-pull structural dye design, in which the ancillary ligand exhibits an electron-donating effect that can lead to improved solar cell performance. By analyzing the optical properties of the dyes and their solar cell performance, we can conclude that the presence of ancillary ligands with bulky substituents protects the Cu(I) metal center from solvent coordination constituting a critical factor in the design of efficient Cu(I)-based dyes. Moreover, we have identified some components in the I-/I-3(-)-based electrolyte that causes dissociation of the ancillary ligand, i.e., TiO2 photoelectrode bleaching. Finally, the detailed studies on one of the dyes revealed an electrolyte-dye interaction, leading to a dramatic change of the dye properties when adsorbed on the TiO2 surface.
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| 3. |
- Gao, Jiajia, et al.
(författare)
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Light-induced electrolyte improvement in cobalt tris(bipyridine)-mediated dye-sensitized solar cells
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Chemistry A. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2050-7488 .- 2050-7496. ; 7:33, s. 19495-19505
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lithium-ion-free tris(2,2′-bipyridine) Co(ii/iii)-mediated electrolytes have previously been proposed for long-term stable dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Such redox systems also offer an impressive DSSC performance improvement under light soaking exposure, manifested by an increase in photocurrent and fill factor without the expense of decreasing photovoltage. Kinetic studies show that charge transfer and ion diffusion at the electrode/electrolyte interface are improved due to the light exposure. Control experiments reveal that the light effect is unambiguously associated with electrolyte components, [Co(bpy)3]3+ and the Lewis-base additive tert-butylpyridine (TBP). Electrochemical and spectroscopic investigation of the [Co(bpy)3]3+/TBP mixtures points out that the presence of TBP, which retards the electrolyte diffusion, however causes an irreversible redox reaction of [Co(bpy)3]3+ upon light exposure that improves the overall conductivity. This discovery not only provides a new strategy to mitigate the typical Jsc-Voc trade-off in Co(ii/iii)-mediated DSSCs but also highlights the importance of investigating the photochemistry of a photoelectrochemical system.
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| 4. |
- Gao, Jiajia, et al.
(författare)
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Light-Induced Interfacial Dynamics Dramatically Improve the Photocurrent in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells : An Electrolyte Effect
- 2018
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Ingår i: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 1944-8244 .- 1944-8252. ; 10:31, s. 26241-26247
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A significant increase in the photocurrent generation during light soaking for solar cells sensitized by the triphenylamine-based D-pi-A organic dyes (PD2 and LEG1) and mediated by cobalt bipyridine redox complexes has been observed and investigated. The crucial role of the electrolyte has been identified in the performance improvement. Control experiments based on a pretreatment strategy reveals TBP as the origin. The increase in the current and IPCE has been interpreted by the interfacial charge-transfer kinetics studies. A slow component in the injection kinetics was exposed for this system. This change explains the increase in the electron lifetime and collection efficiency. Photoelectron spectroscopic measurements show energy shifts at the dye/TiO2 interface, leading us to formulate a hypothesis with respect to an electrolyte induced dye reorganization at the surface.
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| 5. |
- Leandri, Valentina, et al.
(författare)
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An organic hydrophilic dye for water-based dye-sensitized solar cells
- 2014
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 16:37, s. 19964-19971
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study we report the first organic hydrophilic dye employed for 100% water-based electrolyte DSSCs. We show that the replacement of alkyl by glycolic chains in the dye structure is able to provide excellent wettability, resulting in an efficient system with remarkably reduced desorption problems that allowed us to perform tests over a wide pH range. By changing the electrolyte composition, employing chenodeoxycholic acid as a co-adsorbent and using PEDOT counter-electrodes, 3% power conversion efficiency under 1-sun illumination was obtained. We show that chenodeoxycholic acid does not significantly increase the wettability, and we provide new insights into the higher performance resulting from its co-adsorption.
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| 6. |
- Leandri, Valentina, et al.
(författare)
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Coumarin as a Quantitative Probe for Hydroxyl Radical Formation in Heterogeneous Photocatalysis
- 2019
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Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 123:11, s. 6667-6674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this work, we have assessed coumarin as a quantitative probe for hydroxyl radical formation in heterogeneous photocatalysis. Upon reaction with the hydroxyl radical, coumarin produces several hydroxylated products, of which one, 7-OH-coumarin, is strongly fluorescent. The fluorescence emission is strongly affected by inner filtering due to the presence of coumarin. Therefore, we performed a series of calibration experiments to correct for the coumarin concentration. From the calibration experiments, we could verify that the inner-filtering effect can be attributed to the competing absorption of the fluorescence excitation light between coumarin and 7-OH-coumarin. Through judicious calibration for the inner-filtering effects, the corrected results for the photocatalytic system show that the rate of hydroxyl scavenging is constant with time for initial coumarin concentrations of ≥50 μM under the conditions of our experiments. The rate increases linearly with coumarin concentration, as expected from the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model. Within the coumarin concentration range used here, the photocatalyst surface does not become saturated. Given the fact that the highest coumarin concentration used (1 mM) in this work is quite close to the solubility limit, we conclude that coumarin cannot be used to assess the full photocatalytic capacity of the system, i.e., surface saturation is never reached. The rate of hydroxyl radical scavenging will, to a large extent, depend on the affinity to the surface, and it is therefore not advisable to use coumarin as a probe for photocatalytic efficiency when comparing different photocatalysts.
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| 7. |
- Leandri, Valentina, et al.
(författare)
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Electronic and Structural Effects of Inner Sphere Coordination of Chloride to a Homoleptic Copper(II) Diimine Complex
- 2018
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Ingår i: Inorganic Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0020-1669 .- 1520-510X. ; 57:8, s. 4556-4562
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The reaction of CuCl2 with 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (dmp) does not lead to the formation of [Cu(dmp)(2)](Cl)(2) but instead to [Cu(dmp)(2)Cl]Cl, a 5-coordinated complex, in which one chloride is directly coordinated to the metal center. Attempts at removing the coordinated chloride by changing the counterion by metathesis were unsuccessful and resulted only in the exchange of the noncoordinated chloride, as confirmed from a crystal structure analysis. Complex [Cu-(dmp)(2)Cl]PF6 exhibits a reversible cyclic voltammogram characterized by a significant peak splitting between the reductive and oxidative waves (0.85 and 0.60 V vs NHE, respectively), with a half-wave potential E-1/2 = 0.73 V vs NHE. When reduced electrochemically, the complex does not convert into [Cu(dmp)(2)](+), as one may expect. Instead, [Cu(dmp)(2)](+) is isolated as a product when the reduction of [Cu(dmp)(2)Cl]PF6 is performed with L-ascorbic acid, as confirmed by electrochemistry, NMR spectroscopy, and diffractometry. [Cu(dmp)(2)](2+) complexes can be synthesized starting from Cu(II) salts with weakly and noncoordinating counterions, such as perchlorate. Growth of [Cu(dmp)(2)](ClO4)(2) crystals in acetonitrile results in a 5-coordinated complex, [Cu(dmp)(2)(CH3CN)](ClO4)(2), in which a solvent molecule is coordinated to the metal center. However, solvent coordination is associated with a dynamic decoordination-coordination behavior upon reduction and oxidation. Hence, the cyclic voltammogram of [Cu(dmp)(2)(CH3CN)](2+) is identical to the one of [Cu(dmp)(2)](+), if the measurements are performed in acetonitrile. The current results show that halide ions in precursors to Cu(II) metal-organic coordination compound synthesis, and most likely also other multivalent coordination centers, are not readily exchanged when exposed to presumed strongly binding and chelating ligand, and thus special care needs to be taken with respect to product characterization.
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| 8. |
- Leandri, Valentina, et al.
(författare)
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Excited-State Dynamics of [Ru(bpy)(3)](2+) Thin Films on Sensitized TiO2 and ZrO2
- 2019
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Ingår i: ChemPhysChem. - : Wiley-VCH Verlagsgesellschaft. - 1439-4235 .- 1439-7641. ; 20:4, s. 618-626
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The excited state dynamics of Tris(2,2 '-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) hexafluorophosphate, [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)], was investigated on the surface of bare and sensitized TiO2 and ZrO2 films. The organic dyes LEG4 and MKA253 were selected as sensitizers. A Stern-Volmer plot of LEG4-sensitized TiO2 substrates with a spin-coated [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)] layer on top shows considerable quenching of the emission of the latter. Interestingly, time-resolved emission spectroscopy reveals the presence of a fast-decay time component (25 +/- 5 ns), which is absent when the anatase TiO2 semiconductor is replaced by ZrO2. It should be specified that the positive redox potential of the ruthenium complex prevents electron transfer from the [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)] ground state into the oxidized sensitizer. Therefore, we speculate that the fast-decay time component observed stems from excited-state electron transfer from [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)] to the oxidized sensitizer. Solid-state dye sensitized solar cells (ssDSSCs) employing MKA253 and LEG4 dyes, with [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)] as a hole-transporting material (HTM), exhibit 1.2 % and 1.1 % power conversion efficiency, respectively. This result illustrates the possibility of the hypothesized excited-state electron transfer.
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| 9. |
- Leandri, Valentina, et al.
(författare)
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Exploring the Optical and Electrochemical Properties of Homoleptic versus Heteroleptic Diimine Copper(I) Complexes
- 2019
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Ingår i: Inorganic Chemistry. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 0020-1669 .- 1520-510X. ; 58:18, s. 12167-12177
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to ligand scrambling, the synthesis and investigation of the properties of heteroleptic Cu(I) complexes can be a challenging task. In this work, we have studied the optical and electrochemical properties of a series of homoleptic complexes, such as [Cu(dbda)(2)](+), [Cu(dmp)(2)](+), [Cu(Br-dmp)(2)](+), [Cu(bcp)(2)](+), [Cu(dsbtmp)(2)](+), [Cu(biq)(2)](+), and [Cu(dap)(2)](+) in solution, and those of their heteroleptics [Cu(dbda)(dmp)](+), [Cu(dbda)(Br-dmp)](+), [Cu(dbda)(bcp)](+), [Cu(dbda)(dsbtmp))(+), [Cu(dbda)(biq)](+), [Cu(dbda)(dap)](+) adsorbed on the surface of anatase TiO2 (dbda = 6,6'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine-4,4'-dibenzoic acid; dmp = 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline; Br-dmp = 5-bromo 2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline; bcp = bathocuproine or 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline; dsbtmp = 2,9-di(sec-butyl)-3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline; biq = 2,2'-biquinoline; dap = 2,9-dianisyl-1,10-phenanthroline). We show that the maximum absorption wavelengths of the heteroleptic complexes on TiO2 can be reasonably predicted from those of the homoleptic complexes in solution through a simple linear relation, whereas the prediction of their redox properties is less trivial. In the latter case, two different linear patterns emerge: one including the ligands bcp, biq, and dap and another one including the ligands dmp, Br-dmp, and dsbtmp. We offer an interpretation of the data based on the chemical structure of the ligands. On one hand, ligands bcp, biq, and dap possess a more extended pi-conjugated system, which gives a more prominent contribution to the overall redox properties of the ligand dbda. On the other hand, the ligands dmp, Br-dmp, and dsbtmp are all phenanthroline-based containing alkyl substituents and contribute less than dbda to the overall redox properties.
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| 10. |
- Leandri, Valentina, et al.
(författare)
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Incorporation of a fluorophenylene spacer into a highly efficient organic dye for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A. - : Elsevier BV. - 1010-6030 .- 1873-2666. ; 328, s. 59-65
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new efficient organic dye LEG4F, incorporating a fluorine-substituted phenylene unit in the π-spacer, has been synthesized and tested in dye-sensitized solar cells. Direct comparison with the parent dye LEG4 shows very similar performances in case of liquid electrolyte devices based on iodide/triiodide, yielding a power conversion efficiency of 6.8% under 1 sun and 8.0–8.2% under 0.5 sun illumination. However, LEG4F outperforms its fluorine-free analogue when the liquid electrolyte is replaced by the solid-state hole-transport material Spiro-OMeTAD, reaching 5.3% efficiency compared to 4.8% achieved by LEG4. We show that this improvement is due to the enhancement of the electron lifetime, which reduces recombination at the TiO2/dye/Spiro-OMeTAD interfaces.
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