A dye-sensitized solar cell is a low-cost solar cell belonging to the group of thin film solar cells. It is based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte, a photoelectrochemical system. The modern version of a dye solar cell, also known as the Grätzel cell, was originally co-invented in 1988 by Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel at UC Berkeley and this work was later developed by the aforementioned scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) until the publication of the first high efficiency DSSC in 1991. Michael Grätzel has been awarded the 2010 Millennium Technology Prize for this invention.
Photosensitizers are light absorbers that alter the course of a photochemical reaction. They usually are catalysts. They can function by many mechanisms, sometimes they donate an electron to the substrate, sometimes they abstract a hydrogen atom from the substrate. At the end of this process, the photosensitizer returns to its ground state, where it remains chemically intact, poised to absorb more light. One branch of chemistry which frequently utilizes photosensitizers is polymer chemistry, using photosensitizers in reactions such as photopolymerization, photocrosslinking, and photodegradation. Photosensitizers are also used to generate prolonged excited electronic states in organic molecules with uses in photocatalysis, photon upconversion and photodynamic therapy. Generally, photosensitizers absorb electromagnetic radiation consisting of infrared radiation, visible light radiation, and ultraviolet radiation and transfer absorbed energy into neighboring molecules. This absorption of light is made possible by photosensitizers' large de-localized π-systems, which lowers the energy of HOMO and LUMO orbitals to promote photoexcitation. While many photosensitizers are organic or organometallic compounds, there are also examples of using semiconductor quantum dots as photosensitizers.
Hybrid solar cells combine advantages of both organic and inorganic semiconductors. Hybrid photovoltaics have organic materials that consist of conjugated polymers that absorb light as the donor and transport holes. Inorganic materials in hybrid cells are used as the acceptor and electron transporter in the structure. The hybrid photovoltaic devices have a potential for not only low-cost by roll-to-roll processing but also for scalable solar power conversion.
Charles Holmes Herty Sr. was an American academic, scientist, and entrepreneur. Serving in academia as a chemistry professor to begin his career, Herty concurrently promoted collegiate athletics including creating the first varsity football team at the University of Georgia. His academic research gravitated towards applied chemistry where he revolutionized the turpentine industry in the United States. While serving as the president of the American Chemical Society, Herty became a national advocate for the nascent American chemical industry and left academia to preside over the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers' Association (SOCMA) and the Chemical Foundation. He was also instrumental in the creation of the National Institutes of Health. Towards the end of his career, Herty's research and advocacy led to the creation of a new pulp industry in the Southern United States that utilized southern pine trees to create newsprint.
Michael Grätzel is a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne where he directs the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic-materials and their optoelectronic applications. He co-invented with Brian O'Regan the Grätzel cell in 1988.
Prashant V. Kamat is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a principal scientist of the radiation laboratory, University of Notre Dame. He is affiliated with the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering as a concurrent professor. He earned his master's (1974) and doctoral degree (1979) in physical chemistry from Bombay University, and carried out his postdoctoral research at Boston University (1979–1981) and University of Texas at Austin (1981–1983).
A perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell that includes a perovskite-structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic–inorganic lead or tin halide-based material as the light-harvesting active layer. Perovskite materials, such as methylammonium lead halides and all-inorganic cesium lead halide, are cheap to produce and simple to manufacture.
Abhik Ghosh is an Indian inorganic chemist and materials scientist and a professor of chemistry at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, Norway.
Mercouri Kanatzidis is a Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of chemistry and professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University and Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory.
Royce W. Murray was an American chemist and chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests were focused on electrochemistry, molecular designs, and sensors. He published over 440 peer-reviewed articles in analytical, physical, inorganic, and materials chemistry, and trained 72 Ph.D students, 16 master’s students, and 58 postdoctoral fellows, 45 of whom have gone on to university faculty positions. He was named a fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2012, and was the inventor on three patents related to surface-modified electrodes.
Jacqueline Manina Cole is the Head of the Molecular Engineering group in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Her research considers the design of functional materials for optoelectronic applications.
Tsutomu Miyasaka, is a Japanese engineer in electrochemistry best known as the inventor of the perovskite solar cell.
Light harvesting materials harvest solar energy that can then be converted into chemical energy through photochemical processes. Synthetic light harvesting materials are inspired by photosynthetic biological systems such as light harvesting complexes and pigments that are present in plants and some photosynthetic bacteria. The dynamic and efficient antenna complexes that are present in photosynthetic organisms has inspired the design of synthetic light harvesting materials that mimic light harvesting machinery in biological systems. Examples of synthetic light harvesting materials are dendrimers, porphyrin arrays and assemblies, organic gels, biosynthetic and synthetic peptides, organic-inorganic hybrid materials, and semiconductor materials. Synthetic and biosynthetic light harvesting materials have applications in photovoltaics, photocatalysis, and photopolymerization.
Héctor Daniel Abruña is a Puerto Rican physical chemist whose work focuses on electrochemistry, molecular electronics, fuel cells, batteries, and electrocatalysis. Abruña is director of the Energy Materials Center and Emile M. Chamot professor for chemistry at Cornell University. He became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006, a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007, and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2018. Abruña conducts research into battery and fuel cell systems using electrochemical techniques and X-ray microscopy and spectroscopy methods.
Nam-Gyu Park is Distinguished Professor and Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)-Fellow at School of Chemical Engineering, SKKU. His research focuses on high efficiency mesoscopic nanostructured solar cells.
Steven L. Suib is an American inorganic chemist, academic and researcher. He is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at University of Connecticut. He is a director of the Institute of Materials Science and of the Center for Advanced Microscopy and Materials Analysis.
Thomas Albrecht-Schönzart is an American radiochemist specializing in the chemistry and physics of transuranium elements. He is jointly appointed as a University Distinguished Professor at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, and Director of the Nuclear Science & Engineering Center and Idaho National Laboratory.
Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin is an Indian-Swiss chemist and materials scientist who conducts research on Perovskite solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. He is a professor at EPFL and the director of the Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Functional Materials at School of Basic Sciences.
Amanda Morris is an American chemist who is the Patricia Caldwell Faculty Fellow and professor of inorganic and energy chemistry at Virginia Tech. Her research considers next-generation materials for catalysis and light-harvesting. She was elected chair of the American Chemical Society Gay and Transgender Chemists and Allies committee in 2021.
Ana Flávia Nogueira is a Brazilian chemist who is a Full Professor at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) since 2004. Her research considers nanostructured materials for solar energy conversion. She was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Science in 2022.
“Interview with ACS Applied Energy Materials Deputy Editor: Gerald J. Meyer, Ph.D.”, American Chemical Society, Jun 13, 2018
