Synergistic tailoring of flavins and quantum dots for solar cell applications

可再生能源的开发是一个紧迫的问题，其规模如此之大，许多技术都将作出贡献。由于太阳能的丰富性和电力作为能源的便利性，太阳能光伏发电可以预期将发挥重要作用，但目前它们仅占世界能源供应的一小部分（例如，约2000年）。0.02%）。吸收非常有限的主要原因是目前的太阳能电池比化石燃料发电昂贵得多。有机半导体有可能通过提供低成本太阳能电池来解决这个问题。有机半导体是π共轭分子和聚合物，其可以通过低成本/高体积沉积技术（例如旋涂、卷对卷处理以及喷墨和丝网印刷）从溶液中加工。共轭聚合物是一类重要的有机半导体材料，可用于制造重量轻、便携性好、非常时尚和极具市场前景的柔性薄膜器件。有机太阳能电池采用的一个关键障碍是其效率低（固态器件为5-7%）。该提案描述了一种三管齐下的方法，其中每种方法都有可能提高太阳能电池的效率。该提案旨在建立V. Rotello教授（马萨诸塞大学），I.D.W.教授和Samuel（St Andrews）和G.库克（格拉斯哥）。我们计划的协同作用为光伏效率的大幅提高提供了潜力。这三种方法总结如下：1。新的黄素基电子受体将产生定制的能级和物理性质。新的量子点将产生与黄素衍生物互补的能级。将研究由这些系统制备的图案化异质结的光伏特性。部分将被纳入黄素和纳米颗粒系统，以促进自组装和增强的电荷分离。原型光伏电池将从这些系统制造。

The development of renewable energy sources is an urgent problem and so large that many technologies will contribute. Solar photovoltaics can be expected to play a major role because of the abundance of solar energy, and the convenience of electricity as an energy source, but at present they contribute only a tiny fraction of the world's energy supply (e.g. ca. ~0.02% in the US). The major reason for the very limited uptake is that current solar cells are much more expensive than generating power from fossil fuels. Organic semiconductors have the potential to solve this problem by providing a route to much lower cost solar cells. Organic semiconductors are pi-conjugated molecules and polymers, that can be processed from solution via low cost/high volume deposition techniques such as spin-coating, roll-to-roll processing and ink-jet and screen printing. Conjugated polymers are an important class of organic semiconductor that can be used to make flexible thin film devices that are lightweight, highly portable, extremely fashionable and exceptionally marketable.A key barrier to the take-up of organic solar cells is that their efficiency is low (5-7% for solid state devices). This proposal describes a three-pronged approach, whereby each of these approaches has the potential to improve solar cell efficiency. The proposal aims to establish a new collaboration between Prof V. Rotello (UMass), Prof I.D.W. Samuel (St Andrews) and Dr G. Cooke (Glasgow). The synergy of our programme provides the potential for dramatic improvement in photovoltaic efficiency. The three approaches are summarised below:1. New flavin based electron acceptors will be produced with tailored energy levels and photophysical properties.2. New quantum dots will be produced with complementary energy levels to the flavin derivatives. The photovoltaic properties of patterned heterojunctions fabricated from these systems will be investigated.3. Moieties will be included into flavin and nanoparticle systems to facilitate self-assembly and enhanced charge separation. Prototype photovoltaic cells will be fabricated from these systems.