Bio-inspired Supramolecular Dyes for Application in Optoelectronics Devices

LUIS OTERO, FERNANDO FUNGO, GIANLUCA POZZI, THOMAS DITTRICH, JUAN BISQUERT MIGUEL GERVALDO

Cordoba

Congreso; 16th International Congress of Photobiology; 2014

Bio-inspired optoelectronic devices, like nanocrystalline semiconductor-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) and organic solar cells (OSC) have attracted significant attention as a low cost alternative to conventional photovoltaic devices. However, further improvements are still necessary, and new materials need to be thoroughly explored, like the use of new semiconductor materials. We demonstrate that DSSC devices constructed using titania-graphene paste thin films reach higher photocurrent and therefore higher efficiency than devices made with a commercial paste due to extra photocurrent generation. [1] We also developed [2] a strategy that proved to be effective in the design and synthesis of highly efficient organic sensitizers. We have investigated unprecedented panchromatic spiro-configured Donor/Acceptor sensitizers, which proved to be promising candidates for the realization of efficient solar energy conversion in DSSCs devices. On the other hand, the improvement and application of flexible optoelectronic devices are directly associated to the development of new suitable materials and deposition processes. A promising technique for conducting polymer film production is the electropolymerization of electroactive monomers. The formation and characterization of a series of polymer films with optoelectronic properties obtained by electropolymerization will be showed.[3] Polymers containing porphyrins, a powerful optical and redox active center, were synthesized and analyzed in our laboratory and applied in electro-optical devices.