Photoinduced charge separation in donor–acceptor spiro compounds at metal and metal oxide surfaces: application in dye-sensitized solar cell

Lorena Macor; Miguel Gervaldo; Fernando Fungo; Luis Otero; Thomas Dittrich; Chih-Yen Lin; Liang-Chen Chi; Fu-Chuan Fang; Shu-Woei Lii; Ken-Tsung Wong; Chih-Hung Tsai; Chung-Chih Wu

doi:10.1039/C2RA00995A

Photoinduced charge separation in donor–acceptor spiro compounds at metal and metal oxide surfaces: application in dye-sensitized solar cell†

Lorena Macor,^a Miguel Gervaldo,^a Fernando Fungo,*^a Luis Otero,*^a Thomas Dittrich,^b Chih-Yen Lin,^c Liang-Chen Chi,^c Fu-Chuan Fang,^c Shu-Woei Lii,^c Ken-Tsung Wong,*^c Chih-Hung Tsai^d and Chung-Chih Wu^d

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Departamento de Química, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal N° 3, X5804BYA, Río Cuarto, Argentina
E-mail: lotero@exa.unrc.edu.ar, ffungo@exa.unrc.edu.ar

^b Helmholtz Center Berlin for Materials and Energy, Institute of Heterogeneous Materials, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, D-14109 Berlin, Germany

^c Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
E-mail: kenwong@ntu.edu.tw

^d Department of Electrical Engineering, Graduate Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics, and Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

Abstract

Modulated charge separation has been investigated by surface photovoltage spectroscopy in the fixed capacitor arrangement for four different fluorene compounds adsorbed from highly diluted solutions at ultra-thin nanoporous TiO₂ (np-TiO₂), Au and ITO surfaces. Donor (–N(C₆H₅)₂) and acceptor moieties (–CN, –COOH) were linked by fluorene or spirobisfluorene cores and the chain length has been changed by introducing thiophene. Modulated charge separation by electron injection and intramolecular transport has been separated and directed adsorption of spiro compounds at Au surfaces has been demonstrated. Striking differences between the interaction of linking –CN and –COOH groups and the different substrates were observed. The capability as TiO₂ spectral sensitizer of spirobisfluorene donor–acceptor molecules with extended conjugation has been demonstrated. Solar cells exhibit 5.6% energy conversion efficiency, confirming that spiro-configured geometry is a promising route to the design of metal free dyes.

RSC Advances

Photoinduced charge separation in donor–acceptor spiro compounds at metal and metal oxide surfaces: application in dye-sensitized solar cell†

Abstract

Supplementary files

Article information

Download Citation

Permissions

Photoinduced charge separation in donor–acceptor spiro compounds at metal and metal oxide surfaces: application in dye-sensitized solar cell

Social activity

Search articles by author

Spotlight

Advertisements