Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Biophotovoltaic from Plants.

Antonio Bartolotta^a, Giuseppe Calogero^a, Giovanni Carini jr.^a, Gaetano Di Marco^a, Ilaria Citro^a, Aldo Di Carlo^b, Francesco Bonaccorso^c

^aCNR-IPCF,Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, Via F. Stagno D’Alcontres 37,Messina, 98158, Italy

^bCHOSE - Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy, University of Rome ‘‘Tor Vergata’’, Via del Politecnico, 1, Roma, Italy

^cCompuNet, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genova, Genova, 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

Oral, Giuseppe Calogero, presentation 138
Publication date: 5th February 2015

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are now one of the most promising low cost photovoltaic technologies, addressing “secure, clean and efficient solar energy conversion” [1]. There is currently a large effort in improving device performance in order to meet with the requirement for greener energy generation. The thought of imitating nature has been a dream for scientists over the centuries. In this context, the use of natural dyes in DSSCs could be the ideal solution. In fact, natural dyes such as vegetables dyes are abundant, cheap, non toxic, biocompatible and totally recyclable, becoming the greenest alternative photosensitizers to the synthetic dyes [2,3]. Thus far, anthocyanin and betalain extracts together with selected chlorophyll derivatives, are the main investigated vegetable sensitizers [4]. Here we analyze recent progress on the exploitation of vegetable dyes for solar energy conversion, comparing them with the synthetic ones. The dyes extracted from grape, mulberry, blackberry, red Sicilian orange, Sicilian prickly pear, eggplant, radicchio, etc.., have shown a incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) ranging from 40 % to 69 % [2,3]. Furthermore, we provide an in depth discussion on the main limitation of the use of natural dyes, outlining future developments for their use both in DSSCs and large area modules [4]. We also discuss the cost of vegetable-based DSSCs and how their can boost the advancement of new power management solutions, especially for their integration in living environments[4]. This makes the practical application of such systems economically viable. Finally, we present our view on future prospective in the development of synthetic analogues of vegetable dyes as sensitizers in DSSC[5].
Fig. 1 - Progressing solar energy conversion efficiency of vegetable dye-based DSSCs from 1997 to 2014.
[1] Hagfeldt, A.; Boschloo, G.; Sun, L.; Kloo, L.; Pettersson, H.; Dye-sensitized solar cells. Chem. Rev. 2010, 110, 6595-6663. [2] Calogero, G.; Di Marco, G.; Cazzanti, S.; Caramori, S.; Argazzi, R. ; Bignozzi, C.A. Natural dye senstizers for photoelectrochemical cells. Energy Environ Sci, 2009, 2 ,1162 -1172. [3] Calogero, G. ; Yum, J. H.; Sinopoli, A.; Di Marco, G.; Gratzel, M.; Nazeeruddin, M. K. Solar Energy, 2012, 86, 1563-1575. [4] Calogero, G.; Bartolotta, A.; Di Marco, G. ; Di Carlo A.; Bonaccorso, F. Vegetable-based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Chem Soc Rev. 2015 accepted. [5] Calogero, G.; Sinopoli, A.; Citro, I. ; Di Marco, G.; Petrov, V. ; Diniz, A. M. ; Parola, A. J. ; Pina., F. Synthetic analogues of anthocyanins as sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells. Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2013, 12, 883-894.

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