Chemical breakthrough optimizes solar cell efficiency performance
The dendritic compounds synthesized at UNAM contain two chemical groups called porphyrin and pyrene, which interact with each other, and can be used to develop a new generation of photovoltaic compounds that can optimize the capture of energy in the UV – visible spectral region to provide more a efficient conversion mechanism of turning sunlight into electricity.
"Several pyrene groups (donor) are excited and transfer all their energy to a single porphyrin group (acceptor), this happens in one of the molecules of the dendritic compounds," explained Dr. Ernesto Rivera Garcia, scientist at the IIM -UNAM. “The fact that several donor groups are excited and transfer energy to an acceptor photoconductor group causes more efficiency in capturing sunlight and generating power."
The physical phenomenon involved in the process, which is known as ‘antenna effect’, acts in the same way as when a conventional antenna picks up a wave and amplifies it to send to various devices. The molecular pyrene groups receive sunlight and transfer the energy to another porphyrin group.
Dr. Garcia said that to take advantage of this physical principle in solar cells, the molecules need to be modified for use in these power generation technologies. "For example, we can add some chemical groups such as carbazole or triphenylamine, the structure of these compounds is more efficient for power generation," said Garcia Rivera.
The scientist at the Institute of Materials Research at UNAM added that currently research projects are also seeking to apply the ‘antenna effect’ on solar cells by using graphene.
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