Long-lived photoinduced charge separation for solar cell applications in phthalocyanine–fulleropyrrolidine dyad thin films

The photophysical properties of a new dyad molecule composed of a covalently linked Zn-phthalocyanine (antenna/donor) and a C60 derivative (acceptor) have been investigated. We report experimental evidence of long-lived charge separation in the solid state with a lifetime several orders of magnitude higher than in solution. Such a long lifetime, unusual for phthalocyanine–fullerene dyads, is the basis for possible photovoltaic applications. A first demonstration of a working solar cell using phthalocyanine–fullerene dyads as the active material is presented. Though the power conversion efficiency under simulated solar illumination of 80 mW cm−2 is found to be moderate (0.02%), it is an encouraging result for application of C60 dyad molecules to photovoltaics.

[1]  M. Murgia,et al.  Weak intrinsic charge transfer complexes: A new route for developing wide spectrum organic photovoltaic cells , 2002 .

[2]  Helge Lemmetyinen,et al.  Ultrafast charge transfer in phytochlorin-[60]fullerene dyads: influence of the attachment position , 2001 .

[3]  M. Prato,et al.  Parallel (face-to-face) versus perpendicular (edge-to-face) alignment of electron donors and acceptors in fullerene porphyrin dyads: the importance of orientation in electron transfer. , 2001, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[4]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Very-high-efficiency double-heterostructure copper phthalocyanine/C60 photovoltaic cells , 2001 .

[5]  J. Hummelen,et al.  Photoinduced electron transfer and photovoltaic devices of a conjugated polymer with pendant fullerenes. , 2001, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[6]  S. Fukuzumi,et al.  Charge separation in a novel artificial photosynthetic reaction center lives 380 ms. , 2001, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[7]  Christoph J. Brabec,et al.  Tracing photoinduced electron transfer process in conjugated polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunctions in real time , 2001 .

[8]  K. Yoshino,et al.  Broad spectral sensitization of organic photovoltaic heterojunction device by perylene and C60 , 2000 .

[9]  Paul A. van Hal,et al.  Synthesis, photophysical properties, and photovoltaic devices of oligo(p-phenylene vinylene)-fullerene dyads , 2000 .

[10]  T. Markvart,et al.  Light harvesting for quantum solar energy conversion , 2000 .

[11]  J. Hummelen,et al.  Time-resolved infrared-absorption study of photoinduced charge transfer in a polythiophene-methanofullerene composite film , 2000 .

[12]  T. Moore,et al.  Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Carotenoporphyrin−Fullerene Triads: Temperature and Solvent Effects , 2000 .

[13]  D. Meissner,et al.  Monochromatic versus solar efficiencies of organic solar cells , 2000 .

[14]  Dieter Meissner,et al.  Metal cluster enhanced organic solar cells , 2000 .

[15]  N. Peyghambarian,et al.  Aluminum based cathode structure for enhanced electron injection in electroluminescent organic devices , 1998 .

[16]  A. Moore,et al.  Photoinduced Charge Separation and Charge Recombination to a Triplet State in a Carotene−Porphyrin−Fullerene Triad , 1997 .

[17]  T. Moore,et al.  Energy and Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Porphyrin−Fullerene Dyads , 1996 .

[18]  B. Hoffman,et al.  Long-lived excited state of C60 in C60/phthalocyanine heterojunction solar cell , 1996 .

[19]  L. B. Ebert.  Science of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes , 1996 .

[20]  Moses,et al.  Transient spectroscopy of excitons and polarons in C60 films from femtoseconds to milliseconds. , 1994, Physical review letters.

[21]  A. J. Heeger,et al.  Photoinduced Electron Transfer from a Conducting Polymer to Buckminsterfullerene , 1992, Science.

[22]  Minyung Lee,et al.  Low-lying electronically excited states of C60 and C70 and measurement of their picosecond transient absorption in solution , 1992 .

[23]  C. Tang.  Two‐layer organic photovoltaic cell , 1986 .

[24]  R. Marcus,et al.  Electron transfers in chemistry and biology , 1985 .