Proceedings of 13th Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV21)
Publication date: 11th May 2021
Among photovoltaics technologies, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) offer high conversion efficiencies (15% record efficiency) and low-cost manufacturing. Unfortunately, one of the major drawbacks in these record cells is the presence of toxic volatile organic solvents (VOCs) in the electrolyte.
To overcome this problem, we have successfully tested eco-friendly reaction media such as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs), made of two or three safe and cheap components which are able to express hydrogen-bond interactions with each other to form an eutectic mixture with a melting point much lower than either of the individual components. DESs are simple and low-cost to synthesize, do not need purification, and they are usually biodegradable. One of the most common DES components, choline chloride (ChCl), is largely used as an additive for chicken feed. We tested both hydrophilic and hydrophobic DESs in DSSCs with promising results [1,2]. As a prototypical hydrophilic DES, we used ChCl/glycerol (1:2 mol mol–1) with 40% water jointly with an hydrophilic dye, and performed an extensive optimization of the device, including different co-adsorbents and TiO2 film thicknesses. Conversely, when using a hydrophobic DES made of menthol and acetic acid we chose a phenothiazine-based dye already studied in our group. DSSCs filled with DESs displayed a lower recombination resistance and a higher Voc when compared to cells filled with an electrolyte based on standard VOCs.
We then focused on DSSCs containing innovative sugar-based natural DES electrolytes, that is ChCl with different monosaccharides, sensitized with multi-branched phenothiazine dyes developed in our group, and characterized by the presence of an alkyl or a sugar substituent [3,4]. In particular, we systematically varied the dye (alkyl functionality vs. sugar moiety), the co-adsorbent (chenodeoxycholic acid vs. glucuronic acid), and the monosaccharide present in the DES. Overall, results are consistent with a cooperative interaction among all the components containing a sugar functionality leading to a performance boost.
This work was funded by national PRIN project “Unlocking Sustainable Technologies Through Nature-inspired Solvents” (NATUREChem) (grant number: 2017A5HXFC_002).
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