EAGER: Collaborative Research: Dye-anchored nanocatalysts for improved solar energy conversion efficiency

EAGER：合作研究：染料锚定纳米催化剂可提高太阳能转换效率

• 批准号: 1107278
• 负责人: Elena Galoppini
• 金额: $ 5.12万
• 依托单位: Rutgers University Newark
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-04-01 至 2013-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1107278&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Collaborative; Research; Dye; anchored

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are a very promising technology for low-cost conversion of solar energy to electricity. The device has three essential components: a wide-bandgap semiconductor (nanocrystalline TiO2) film deposited on a transparent conducting glass electrode and coated with a dye; a platinized counterelectrode; and an electrolyte solution containing the iodide/triiodide redox couple. However, cell efficiencies have been limited due largely to the high electrochemical overpotential (about 0.5 V) needed to drive the critical dye regeneration reaction, where iodide reduces an oxidized dye molecule bound to a TiO2 nanoparticle, yielding triiodide and the uncharged dye as products. The PIs, Professors Alex Agrios of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, and Elena Galoppini of Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, propose to attach catalytic Pt nanoparticles to the dye molecules anchored to the TiO2 surfaces. They hypothesize that Pt bound to the dye molecule can catalyze dye regeneration, routing the reaction through less energetic intermediates and greatly reducing the overpotential required between oxidized dye and iodide. This work will employ catalysis to remove a longstanding limitation on the energy conversion efficiency of low-cost dye-sensitized solar cells.This collaborative EAGER proposal covers experiments to carry out the initial syntheses and experiments to test the main hypothesis to demonstrate the possibility of nanocatalysts to improve DSSC solar energy conversion efficiency. About half of the electrochemical energy of each electron hole pair is lost due to energy losses in the electrochemical processes driving the cell. It is generally acknowledged that the next breakthrough in DSSC research will be the recovery of this lost energy. The significance of this work will be both practical and fundamental, with the concept of molecularly anchored nanocatalysts having potential implications in diverse fields.

染料敏化的太阳能电池（DSSC）是一项非常有前途的技术，用于将太阳能转换为电力。该设备具有三个必需的组件：宽带半导体（纳米晶Tio2）膜沉积在透明的导电玻璃电极上并涂有染料；柏油化的反电极；还有一个含有碘化物/三碘化氧化还原夫妇的电解质溶液。然而，由于驱动关键的染料再生反应所需的高电化学过电势（约0.5 V），细胞效率受到限制，在该反应中，碘化物降低了与TiO2纳米粒子结合的氧化染料分子，产生三碘化物和产物的产物。新泽西州纽瓦克·罗格斯大学的康涅狄格大学，Storrs，CT和Elena Galoppini的Alex Agrios教授提议将催化性PT纳米颗粒附加到固定在TiO2表面上的染料分子上。他们假设与染料分子结合的Pt可以催化染料再生，通过较不耗能的中间体对反应进行路由，并大大降低了氧化染料和碘化物之间所需的过电势。这项工作将采用催化，以消除对低成本染料敏化太阳能电池的能量转化效率的长期限制。本协作的急切提出的建议涵盖了进行初始合成和实验的实验，以测试主要假设，以证明纳米催化源的可能性，以提高DSSC Solar Energy Energy Conversion效率。由于电化学过程中的能量损失，每个电子孔对的电化学能量的大约一半丢失。 人们普遍认为，DSSC研究的下一个突破将是恢复这种失去的能量。这项工作的重要性将是实际的和基本的，其分子锚定的纳米催化剂的概念在不同领域具有潜在影响。