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The Performance Evaluation of Meso-Tetraphenyl Porphyrin and Azo Dyes as Photosensitizers in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

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Abstract

The photovoltaic properties of five different mono-azo function and meso-tetraphenyl porphyrin dyes have been investigated by computational DFT/TDDFT calculations and measurement of the J-V properties of their cells. The photovoltaic efficiency of the cells based on these dyes were determined by both experimental and theoretical methods. The efficiency-to-cost ratios of the azo-dye cells showed that they could be cheaper substitutes to porphyrin-based cells. Eriochrome blue black (EBB) and eriochrome black T (EBT) cells were shown to possess the best photovoltaic properties by the two methods employed (theory and experiment). The presence of two naphthol moieties at both ends of their -N = N- group has been adduced as possible reason for their relatively outstanding performance. The extremely low efficiency-to-cost ratio obtained for cell-POR suggests that the use of porphyrin as sensitizer may not be as economically viable as some azo dyes. MTO, EBB and EBT were found to be the most cost-effective among the investigated dyes. The porphyrin’s low performance may have been amplified by the absence of an effective anchor group in its molecular structure.

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Acknowledgements

The authors, in particular KS, NOF and PBK, are grateful to the management of the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), South Africa, for giving us access to their central supercomputing cluster.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

    Kayode Sanusi & Nafisat O. Fatomi

  2. Department of Chemical Sciences, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria

    Kayode Sanusi, Anuoluwapo O. Olukoya, Nurudeen O. Sanyaolu, Adeola A. Ibikunle, Sodiq T. Yussuf, Segun A. Ogundare & Odunayo C. Atewolara-Odule

  3. School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Kwazulu Natal, Westville Campus, Durban, 3629, South Africa

    Phindile B. Khoza

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Contributions

A.O.O., N.O.S., A.A.I., S.T.Y., S.A.O. and O.C.A. were involved in the synthesis of the porphyrin, purification and characterization, and provided the azo dyes. A.O.O. and K.S. prepared the solar cells. A.O.O., N.O.S., A.A.I., S.T.Y., S.A.O., N.O.F. and O.C.A. carried out the I-V characteristics experiments on the solar cells. N.O.F. and P.B.K. performed the DFT calculations. K.S. and P.B.K analyzed the DFT results. K.S., N.O.S., A.A.I., S.T.Y., S.A.O. and O.C.A. performed the I-V data analysis. K.S. prepared the figures and Tables and wrote the main manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Sanusi, K., Olukoya, A.O., Sanyaolu, N.O. et al. The Performance Evaluation of Meso-Tetraphenyl Porphyrin and Azo Dyes as Photosensitizers in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells. J Fluoresc (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-024-03632-w

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