Issue 32, 2023

Push-pull photochromic dyes for semi-transparent solar cells with light-adjustable optical properties and high color-rendering index

Abstract

We report the design, synthesis and characterization of push–pull photochromic naphthopyran dyes, incorporating different carbazole moieties as the electron-donor group for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. Compared to a reference dye incorporating a diphenylamine-type donor moiety, the introduction of functionalized carbazoles allows for a hypsochromic shift of the absorption of the coloured isomers of the dyes in the visible region and a better tuning of their spectra to the photopic response of the human eye. Under illumination, the molecules exhibit a broad absorption with a maximum comprised between 546 nm and 571 nm in solution and they reveal relatively fast discoloration kinetics. By using these dyes to fabricate photochromic solar cells whose optical and photovoltaic properties vary with the light exposure, we have achieved a PCE of up to 3% in opaque cells. Using these molecules in semi-transparent solar cells with different electrolytes, a PCE of 2.3% was achieved. We also produced a semi-transparent mini-module with an average visible transmittance varying between 66% and 50% and a colour rendering index around 95 in both the uncoloured and coloured states.

Graphical abstract: Push-pull photochromic dyes for semi-transparent solar cells with light-adjustable optical properties and high color-rendering index

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
07 mai 2023
Accepted
10 jul 2023
First published
31 jul 2023
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2023,14, 8497-8506

Push-pull photochromic dyes for semi-transparent solar cells with light-adjustable optical properties and high color-rendering index

S. Fauvel, A. J. Riquelme, J. Andrés Castán, V. M. Mwalukuku, Y. Kervella, V. K. Challuri, F. Sauvage, S. Narbey, P. Maldivi, C. Aumaître and R. Demadrille, Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 8497 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC02328A

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