Maciej Zalas

The Influence of Titania Electrode Modification with Lanthanide Ions Containing Thin Layer on the Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The lanthanide and scandium groups ions (except Pm and Ac) have been used as dopants of TiO2 film in dye-sensitized solar cells. The X-ray diffraction spectra show that the modification has no influence on the structure of the electrode; however, the diffuse reflectance UV-Vis measurements exhibit significant changes in the electronic properties of modified electrodes. The appearance of energy barrier preventing photoexcited electron back-transfer was confirmed for Sc, Ce, Sm, Tb, Ho, Tm, and Lu modified cells. The best photoconversion performance of 8.88 and 8.80% was found for samples modified with Ce and Yb, respectively, and it was greater by 31.4 and 30.2% than that of a unmodified cell.

Gadolinium-modified titanium oxide materials for photoenergy applications: a review

Abstract Gadolinium doped titania materials were explored for application in photoenergy production. Incorporation of gadolinium into titania permitted improvement of photocatalytic or photovoltaic performance of the latter. This review provided a deep analysis of gadolinium applications in photoenergy processes and devices with the main focus on explanation of gadolinium doping effect on physicochemical properties of titania.

Synthesis of new dendritic antenna-like polypyridine ligands

An efficient synthesis of multidentate polypyridine ligands, 3,5-bis(2,2′-bipyridin-4-ylethynyl)benzoic acid and 3,5-bis(2,5-bis(2-pyridyl)-pyridin-4-ylethynyl)benzoic acid, with potential application in the production of ruthenium dyes for dye-sensitised solar cells was developed. Isolation of intermediate products and final compounds is simple and the yields are very high. The ligands obtained can be used in the synthesis of dendritic analogues of well known and very efficient N3 dye and “black dye”.

Increase in efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells by porous TiO2 layer modification with gadolinium-containing thin layer

Modified with gadolinium-containing layer, nanoporous titania electrode and its application in dye-sensitized solar cells were reported. The electrode prepared was characterized with UV-Vis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The amount of gadolinium was measured with inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) experiments. The modified electrode showed reduced N3 dye adsorption ability, but increased light conversion efficiency in comparison with the non-modified electrode. The overall conversion efficiencies, determined under 400 W/m2 irradiation with tungsten-halogen lamp at room temperature, were 0.55% for non-modified and 0.74% for modified electrodes.

17O NMR studies of substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles.

Three series of substituted 1,3,4‐oxadiazoles were studied by 17O NMR spectroscopy. Chemical shifts values were correlated with empirical Hammett parameters as well as calculated bond lengths and chemical shielding values. Copyright

Magnetic field effects in dye-sensitized solar cells controlled by different cell architecture.

The charge recombination and exciton dissociation are generally recognized as the basic electronic processes limiting the efficiency of photovoltaic devices. In this work, we propose a detailed mechanism of photocurrent generation in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) examined by magnetic field effect (MFE) technique. Here we demonstrate that the magnitude of the MFE on photocurrent in DSSCs can be controlled by the radius and spin coherence time of electron-hole (e-h) pairs which are experimentally modified by the photoanode morphology (TiO2 nanoparticles or nanotubes) and the electronic orbital structure of various dye molecules (ruthenium N719, dinuclear ruthenium B1 and fully organic squaraine SQ2 dyes). The observed MFE is attributed to magnetic-field-induced spin-mixing of (e-h) pairs according to the Δg mechanism.

New gel-like polymers as selective weak-base anion exchangers.

A group of new anion exchangers, based on polyamine podands and of excellent ion-binding capacity, were synthesized. The materials were obtained in reactions between various poly(ethyleneamines) with glycidyl derivatives of cyclotetrasiloxane. The final polymeric, strongly cross-linked materials form gel-like solids. Their structures and interactions with anions adsorbed were studied by spectroscopic methods (CP-MAS NMR, FR-IR, UV-Vis). The sorption isotherms and kinetic parameters were determined for 29 anions. Materials studied show high ion capacity and selectivity towards some important anions, e.g., selenate(VI) or perrhenate.

Copper complexes formed by 3,5-bis(2,2′-bipyridin-4-ylethynyl)benzoic acid and its methyl and ethyl esters as studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

AbstractElectrospray ionization mass spectrometry was used to study the complexes of ligands containing two bipyridine units, namely 3,5-bis(2,2-bipyridin-4-ylethynyl)benzoic acid (1) and its methyl and ethyl esters (2, 3), with copper cation, with CuCl2 as a source of copper. It was found that the type of complexes formed strongly depends on CuCl2 concentration. At lower CuCl2 concentration, the detected complexes were rather simple and some of them were formed upon electrospray ionization conditions e.g. ions [22+Cu2]2+ and [32+Cu2]2+ (complexes ligand-Cu(I) of stoichiometry 2:2) which are analogical to the well known, for quaterpyridine, helical complexes. At higher CuCl2 concentration, the detected complexes were more complicated, and most of them contained copper cations bridged by chlorides. The largest ions were [L2+Cu4Cl6]2+. The CID MS/MS spectra of these ions allowed determination of their mass spectrometric fragmentation pathways and as a consequence their structure elucidation.

Methyl group transfer upon gas phase decomposition of protonated methyl benzoate and similar compounds

Gas phase decompositions of protonated methyl benzoate and its conjugates have been studied by using electrospray ionization-collision induced dissociation-tandem mass spectrometry. Loss of CO2 molecule, thus transfer of methyl group, has been observed. In order to better understand this process, the theoretical calculations have been performed. For methyl benzoate conjugates, it has been found that position of substituent affects the loss of CO2 molecule, not the electron donor/withdrawing properties of the substituent. Therefore, electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry in positive ion mode may be useful for differentiation of isomers of methyl benzoate conjugates.

The Cortinarius Fungi Dyes as Sensitizers in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The dye-sensitized solar cells have been for the first time prepared using Cortinarius fungi extracts as a source of sensitizing dyes. The seven species of Cortinarius group, collected in the East Poland, have been used to obtain crude extracts of natural dyes used as sensitizing solutions to prepare DSSCs working electrodes. Extracts and sensitized electrodes have been well characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy measurements. The device sensitized by Cortinarius sanguineus extract has been found the most active in photon-to-current conversion process with efficiency %, fill factor %, photocurrent density  mA/cm2, and photovoltage  mV.