Masatoshi Yanagida

pH-dependent photoinduced electron transfer at the gold electrode modified with a self-assembled monolayer of a porphyrin-mercaptoquinone coupling molecule☆

A porphyrin-quinone coupling molecule with a thiol group was synthesized and immobilized on a gold electrode by the self-assembly method. In electrolyte solutions containing methylviologen as an electron acceptor and EDTA as an electron donor, anodic and cathodic photocurrents were observed at potentials respectively more positive and more negative than the redox potential of the quinone moiety. When the pH of the solution was changed, the redox potential of the quinone moiety shifted to the more negative direction and, accordingly, the potential dependence of the photocurrents also shifted to the negative direction, indicating that the photoinduced electron transfer direction can be controlled by the pH in the electrolyte solution.

Colloidal Synthesis of Air-Stable Alloyed CsSn1–xPbxI3 Perovskite Nanocrystals for Use in Solar Cells

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells have demonstrated unprecedented high power conversion efficiencies in the past few years. Now, the universal instability of the perovskites has become the main barrier for this kind of solar cells to realize commercialization. This situation can be even worse for those tin-based perovskites, especially for CsSnI3, because upon exposure to ambient atmosphere the desired black orthorhombic phase CsSnI3 would promptly lose single crystallinity and degrade to the inactive yellow phase, followed by irreversible oxidation into metallic Cs2SnI6. By alloying CsSnI3 with CsPbI3, we herein report the synthesis of alloyed perovskite quantum dot (QD), CsSn1-xPbxI3, which not only can be phase-stable for months in purified colloidal solution but also remains intact even directly exposed to ambient air, far superior to both of its parent CsSnI3 and CsPbI3 QDs. Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy studies reveal that the photoexcited electrons in the alloyed QDs can be injected into TiO2 nanocrystals at a fast rate of 1.12 × 1011 s-1, which enables a high photocurrent generation in solar cells.

Development of a New Class of Thiocyanate-Free Cyclometalated Ruthenium(II) Complex for Sensitizing Nanocrystalline TiO 2 Solar Cells

We designed and developed a new class of thiocyanate-free cyclometalated ruthenium sensitizers for sensitizing nanocrystalline TiO2 solar cells. This complex shows appreciably broad absorption range. Anchoring to nanocrystalline TiO2 films for light to electrical energy conversion in regenerative photoelectrochemical cells achieves efficient sensitization to TiO2 electrode. With this new sensitizer, there were a power conversion efficiency of 4.76%, a short-circuit photocurrent density of 11.21 mA/cm2, an open-circuit voltage of 0.62 V, and a fill factor of 0.68 obtained under standard AM 1.5 sunlight.

Amphiphilic Ruthenium(II) Terpyridine Sensitizers with Long Alkyl Chain Substituted β-Diketonato Ligands: An Efficient Coadsorbent-Free Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Three alkyl-substituted β-diketonato-ruthenium(II)-polypyridyl sensitizers with different alkyl chain lengths, [Ru(tctpy)(tfpd)(NCS)] (A1), [Ru(tctpy)(tfdd)(NCS)] (A2), and [Ru(tctpy)(tfid)(NCS)] (A3), were designed and synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) to investigate the effect of bulky alkyl chain substituents on the photovoltaic performances (where tctpy = 4,4′,4′′-tricarboxy-2,2′:;6′,2′′-terpyridine, tfpd =1,1,1-trifluoropentane-2,4-dione, tfdd = 1,1,1-trifluorodecane-2,4-dione, and tfid =1,1,1-trifluoroicosane-2,4-dione). These complexes exhibit a broad metal-to-ligand charge transfer absorption band over the whole visible range extending up to 950 nm. All complexes were examined in the presence and absence of the coadsorbent deoxycholic acid (DCA) in dye-bath solutions. These sensitizers, when anchored to nanocrystalline TiO2 films, achieve efficient sensitization to TiO2 electrodes. Under standard AM 1.5 sunlight, the complex A3 containing long alkyl chain length of C16 yielded a short-circuit photocurrent density of 18.0 mA/cm2, an open-circuit voltage of 0.64 V, and a fill factor of 0.66, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 7.6% in the absence of DCA. The power conversion efficiency of A1 sensitized DSCs was significantly increased upon the addition of DCA as compared to that in the absence of DCA. However, the photovoltaic performance of A3 was not dependent on DCA at all, probably due to the inherent structural nature of the A3 molecule.