Novel metal complexes for D‐(A‐π‐A) 2 motif dye sensitizer: Synthesis and photovoltaic application

Photoactive Copper Complexes: Properties and Applications

Photocatalyzed and photosensitized chemical processes have seen growing interest recently and have become among the most active areas of chemical research, notably due to their applications in fields such as medicine, chemical synthesis, material science or environmental chemistry. Among all homogeneous catalytic systems reported to date, photoactive copper(I) complexes have been shown to be especially attractive, not only as alternative to noble metal complexes, and have been extensively studied and utilized recently. They are at the core of this review article which is divided into two main sections. The first one focuses on an exhaustive and comprehensive overview of the structural, photophysical and electrochemical properties of mononuclear copper(I) complexes, typical examples highlighting the most critical structural parameters and their impact on the properties being presented to enlighten future design of photoactive copper(I) complexes. The second section is devoted to their main areas of application (photoredox catalysis of organic reactions and polymerization, hydrogen production, photoreduction of carbon dioxide and dye-sensitized solar cells), illustrating their progression from early systems to the current state-of-the-art and showcasing how some limitations of photoactive copper(I) complexes can be overcome with their high versatility.

A Fascinating Trip into Iron and Copper Dyes for DSSCs

The production of electricity in a greener and more sustainable way by employing renewable sources is a great challenge in modern times. Photovoltaic systems represent an important possibility because sunlight is the most abundant renewable source. In this review article, recent studies (from 2018 to the present) involving novel iron and copper complexes employed as dyes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) are reported; mono- and bimetallic Fe complexes, Cu-based dyes, and devices presenting both metals are discussed, together with the performances of the DSSCs reported in the papers and the corresponding values of the main parameters employed to characterize such solar cells. The feasibility of DSSCs employing copper and iron dyes, alone or in combination with other earth-abundant metals, is demonstrated. The proper optimization of the sensitizers, together with that of the electrolyte and of the semiconducting layer, will likely lead to the development of highly performing and cheap photovoltaic devices for future applications on a much larger scale.

Transition Metal Coordination Compounds as Novel Materials for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are a novel solar cell alternative characterized by lower toxicity by using coordination transition metal compounds while providing high performance benchmarks, such as power conversion efficiency. Particular attention should be paid to compounds containing Cu, which can act both as dyes and as redox mediators, even though compounds relying on other transition metals are also frequently reported. In this paper, examples of compounds containing transition metals in combination with several ligands are presented, and their basic photovoltaic parameters are given.