Issue 13, 2013

The influence of electron injection and charge recombination kinetics on the performance of porphyrin-sensitized solar cells: effects of the 4-tert-butylpyridine additive

Abstract

The effects of the 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) additive in the electrolyte on photovoltaic performance of two push–pull porphyrin sensitizers (YD12 and YD12CN) were examined. Addition of TBP significantly increased the open-circuit voltage (VOC) for YD12 (from 550 to 729 mV) but it was to a lesser extent for YD12CN (from 544 to 636 mV); adding TBP also had the effect of reducing the short-circuit current density (JSC) slightly for YD12 (from 17.65 to 17.19 mA cm−2) but it led to a significant reduction for YD12CN (from 16.45 to 9.78 mA cm−2). The resulting power conversion efficiencies of the YD12 devices increase from 6.2% to 8.5% whereas those of the YD12CN devices decrease from 5.8% to 4.5%. Based on measurements of temporally resolved photoelectric transients of the devices and femtosecond fluorescence decays of thin-film samples, the poor performance of the YD12CN device in the presence of TBP can be understood as being due to the enhanced charge recombination, decreased electron injection, and a lesser extent of inhibition of the intermolecular energy transfer.

Graphical abstract: The influence of electron injection and charge recombination kinetics on the performance of porphyrin-sensitized solar cells: effects of the 4-tert-butylpyridine additive

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Dec 2012
Accepted
04 Feb 2013
First published
05 Feb 2013

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013,15, 4651-4655

The influence of electron injection and charge recombination kinetics on the performance of porphyrin-sensitized solar cells: effects of the 4-tert-butylpyridine additive

Y. Chang, H. Wu, N. M. Reddy, H. Lee, H. Lu, C. Yeh and E. W. Diau, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013, 15, 4651 DOI: 10.1039/C3CP44555K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements