Ultrafast charge separation dynamics of twisted intramolecular charge transfer state (TICT) in coumarin dye sensitized TiO₂ film: a new route to achieve higher efficient dye-sensitized solar cell

Ultrafast transient spectroscopy of 7-diethyl amino coumarin 3-carboxylic acid (D-1421) sensitized TiO2 film reveals that TICT states facilitate higher charge separation and slow recombination and proved to be new route to design higher efficient solar cell

Ultrafast proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) dynamics in 9-anthranol-aliphatic amine system

Femtosecond infrared absorption studies strongly suggest that photoexcited 9-anthranol takes part in an ultrafast electron transfer (ET) reaction in electron-donating triethylamine solvent, but that ultrafast proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) occurs in diethylamine solvent

Sub-picosecond injection of electrons from excited [Ru(2,2′-bipy-4,4′-dicarboxy)₂(SCN)₂] into TiO₂ using transient mid-infrared spectroscopy

We have used femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy to time resolve the injection of electrons into nanocrystalline TiO2 film electodes under ambient conditions following photoexcitation of the adsorbed dye, [Ru(4,4’-dicarboxy-2,2’-bipyridine)2(NCS)2] (N3). Pumping at one of the metal-to-ligand charge transfer adsorption peaks and probing the absorption of electrons injected into the TiO2 conduction band at 1.52 µm and in the range of 4.1 to 7.0 µm, we have directly observed the arrival of the injected electrons. Our measurements indicate an instrument-limited ~50-fs upper limit on the electron injection time under ambient conditions in air. We have compared the infrared transient absorption for noninjecting (blank) systems consisting of N3 in ethanol and N3 adsorbed to films of nanocrystalline Al2O3 and ZrO2, and found no indication of electron injection at probe wavelengths in the mid-IR (4.1 to 7.0 µm). At 1.52 µm interferences exist in the observed transient adsorption signal for the blanks

Revealing the electronic structure, heterojunction band offset and alignment of Cu2ZnGeSe4: a combined experimental and computational study towards photovoltaic applications

Cu2ZnGeSe4 (CZGSe) is a promising earth-abundant and non-toxic semiconductor material for large-scale thin-film solar cell applications. Herein, we have employed a joint computational and experimental approach to characterize and assess the structural, optoelectronic, and heterojunction band offset and alignment properties of CZGSe solar absorber. The CZGSe films were successfully prepared using DC-sputtering and e-beam evaporation systems and confirmed by XRD and Raman spectroscopy analyses. The CZGSe films exhibit a bandgap of 1.35 eV, as estimated from electrochemical cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements and validated by first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which predicts a bandgap of 1.38 eV. A fabricated device based on the CZGSe as light absorber and CdS as a buffer layer yields power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.4% with VOC of 0.69 V, FF of 37.15, and JSC of 17.12 mA cm−2. Therefore, we suggest that interface and band offset engineering represent promising approaches to improve the performance of CZGSe devices by predicting a type-II staggered band alignment with a small conduction band offset of 0.18 eV at the CZGSe/CdS interface

Ultrafast interfacial charge transfer dynamics in dye-sensitized and quantum dot solar cell

Dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) appeared to be one of the good discovery for the solution of energy problem. We have been involved in studying ultrafast interfacial electron transfer dynamics in DSSC using femtosecond laser spectroscopy. However it has been realized that it is very difficult to design and develop higher efficient one, due to thermodynamic limitation. Again in DSSC most of the absorbed photon energy is lost as heat within the cell, which apart from decreasing the efficiency also destabilizes the device. It has been realized that quantum dot solar cell (QDSC) are the best bet where the sensitizer dye molecules can be replaced by suitable quantum dot (QD) materials in solar cell. The quantum-confinement effect in semiconductors modifies their electronic structure, which is a very important aspect of these materials. For photovoltaic applications, a long-lived charge separation remains one of the most essential criteria. One of the problems in using QDs for photovoltaic applications is their fast charge recombination caused by nonradiative Auger processes, which occur predominantly at lower particle sizes due to an increase in the Coulomb interaction between electrons and holes. Various approaches, such as the use of metal-semiconductor composites, semiconductor-polymer composite, and semiconductor core-shell heterostructures, have been attempted to minimize the fast recombination between electrons and holes. To make higher efficient solar devices it has been realised that it is very important to understand charge carrier and electron transfer dynamics in QD and QD sensitized semiconductor nanostructured materials. In the present talk, we are going to discuss on recent works on ultrafast electron transfer dynamics in dye-sensitized TiO₂ nanoparticles/film [1-12] and charge (electron/hole) transfer dynamics in quantum dot core-shell nano-structured materials [13-17]

Effect of strong coupling on interfacial electron transfer dynamics in dye-sensitized TiO₂ semiconductor nanoparticles

Dynamics of interfacial electron transfer (ET) in ruthenium polypyridyl complex [{bis-(2,2′-bpy)-(4-[2-(4′-methyl-[2,2′]bipyridinyl-4-yl)-vinyl]-benzene-1,2-diol)}ruthenium(II) hexafluorophosphate] (Ru-cat) and 5,10,15-tris phenyl-20-(3,4-dihydroxy benzene) porphyrin (TPP-cat)-sensitized TiO2 nanoparticles have been investigated using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopic detection in the visible and near-infrared region. We have observed that both Ru-cat and TPP-cat are coupled strongly with the TiO2 nanoparticles through their pendant catechol moieties. We have observed a single exponential and pulse-width limited (<100 fs) electron injection from nonthermalized-excited states of Ru-complex. Here electron injection competes with the singlet-triplet manifold relaxation due to strong coupling of catecholate binding, which is a unique observation. Optical absorption spectra indicate that the catechol moiety interacts with TiO2 nanoparticles showing the characteristic pure catechol-TiO2 charge-transfer (CT) band in the visible region. Transient absorption studies on TPP-cat/TiO2 system exciting both the Soret band at 400 nm and the Q-band at 800 nm have been carried out to determine excitation wavelength-dependence on ET dynamics. The reaction channel for the electron-injection process has been found to be different for both the excitation wavelengths. Excitation at 800 nm, is found directly populate directly the excited CT state from where diffusion of electrons into the conduction band takes place. On the other hand, excitation at 400 nm light excites both the CT band of cat-TiO2 and also Soret band of TPP-cat

Determination of back electron transfer rate from the surface states of quinizarin-sensitized ZrO₂ nanoparticles by monitoring charge transfer emission

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Tuning interfacial charge separation by molecular twist: a new insight into coumarin-sensitized TiO₂ films

The 7-aminocoumarin class of dyes exhibits significant molecular twisting in their electronic excited state, which has important consequences on the reaction mechanism involving the intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) state. In this work, the relationship between the molecular structure of coumarin dye and charge separation on TiO2 surface has been explored using 7-(dialkylamino)coumarin-3-carboxylic acid dyes C343 and D1421. The alkylamino group in the form of tethered constraint geometry of the julolidyl ring of coumarin C343 and rotation free geometry of 7-N,N′-diethylamino moiety of coumarin D1421 compel planar and twisted ICT (TICT) excited states in polar solvents, respectively. The femtosecond transient absorption studies show that both the charge-transfer states participate in directional electron injection from coumarin dye into the conduction band of the TiO2 semiconductor substrate. The TICT state formation in the excited state minimizes the donor and acceptor orbital overlap and causes slow back electron-transfer reaction. Current–voltage and incident photon-to-current efficiency measurements verify the beneficial electronic decoupling of the TICT state producing superior photovoltaic response of dye-sensitized solar cells based on coumarin D1421. This work presents tuning of interfacial charge separation by molecular twist at the electron-donating site in D-π-A dye/TiO2 systems