2020 journal article
CdSe Quantum Dot Sensitized Molecular Photon Upconversion Solar Cells
ACS Applied Energy Materials, 3(1), 29–37.
author keywords: quantum dot; bilayer; triplet-triplet annihilation; photon upconversion; solar energy conversion; energy transfer; solar cell
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
(OpenAlex)
Source: ORCID
Added: January 7, 2022
Incorporating photon upconversion, via triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA-UC), directly into a solar cell is an intriguing strategy for harnessing sub-band gap photons and surpassing the Shockley–Queisser limit. A majority of TTA-UC solar cells to date rely on difficult to synthesize and expensive platinum and/or palladium porphyrin sensitizers. Here, we present, as far as we know, the first TTA-UC solar cell that integrates quantum dot (QD) sensitizers directly into the photocurrent generation mechanism. The photoanodes are composed of a nanocrystalline TiO2 substrate, 4,4′-(anthracene-9,10-diyl)bis(4,1-phenylene)diphosphonic acid (A) as the annihilator molecule, and CdSe QDs as the sensitizer in an inorganic–organic-inorganic layered architecture (TiO2-A-QD). The TiO2-A-QD devices generate a photocurrent that is more than 1.4 times the sum of its parts and does so via a TTA-UC mechanism as demonstrated by intensity dependence, IPCE, and spectroscopic measurements. The maximum efficiency onset threshold (...