Sustainability of Organic Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: the Role of Chemical Synthesis

Gian Paolo Suranna^a, Roberto Grisorio^a, Luisa De Marco^b, Giuseppe Gigli^b^,^c^,^d

^aPolytechnic of Bari, via Orabona 4, Bari, 70125, Italy

^bCenter for Biomolecular Nanotechnology (CBN), Fondazione IIT, via Barsanti 1, Arnesano, 73010, Italy

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2015 (HOPV15)

Roma, Italy, 2015 May 11th - 13th

Organizer: Filippo De Angelis

Poster, Roberto Grisorio, 341
Publication date: 5th February 2015

The presentation deals with the synthesis of a novel and efficient p-extended D-A-π-A organic sensitizer (G3, Figure 1) for dye-sensitized solar cells, carried out by applying the green chemistry pillars, aiming at overriding traditional routes involving organometallic intermediates with innovative synthetic strategies and leading to a reduction of the waste burden and dye production costs. The material was endowed with a D-A-π-A structure using the simplest available units for the construction of the electron-donor group (a triarylamine), the π-conjugated spacer (the dithienyl-benzothiadiazole chromophore) and the acceptor/anchoring region (phenyl cyano-acrylic acid). The sensitizer G3 was fully characterizedby UV-Vis, cyclic voltammetry, DFT calculations and a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 8.64% was obtained in DSSC applications. It will be shown how the obtainment of a complex target sensitizer can be exclusively based on direct arylation reactions. Green metrics comparison with the traditional synthetic pathway clearly indicates that the new approach has a lower environmental impact in terms of chemical procedures and generated wastes, stressing the importance of the synergy between the molecular design and the synthetic plan in the framework of environmentally friendly routes to back up sustainable development of third generation photovoltaics. Additionally, the stability of the G3-based photovoltaic devices was also investigated in ageing tests, evidencing the excellent potentialities of the proposed structure for all practical applications involving inorganic semiconductor/organic dye interface.
Figure 1. Synthetic sequence for the obtainment of G3 via direct arylation reactions.
Grisorio, R.; De Marco, L.; Baldisserri, C.; Martina, F.; Serantoni, M.; Gigli, G.; Suranna, G. P. Sustainability of Organic Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: the Role of Chemical Synthesis. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. submitted.

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