Isomeric tetrazole-based organic dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells: Structure-property relationships

DFT Study on Corrosion Inhibition by Tetrazole Derivatives: Investigation of the Substitution Effect

Corrosion is one of the problems that most industries face. Our aim in the current study is to perform density functional theory calculations and Monte Carlo simulation to theoretically investigate the corrosion inhibition of the copper (1 1 1) surface by tetrazole molecules and a group of their derivatives. These compounds have electron-donating groups (CH₃, CH₃O, and OH) and electron-withdrawing groups (F, CN, and NO₂). Two different isomeric forms of tetrazole molecules and their derivatives, including 1H and 2H tautomers, were studied in two configurations, parallel and perpendicular to the Cu (1 1 1) surface. With the help of DMol3 calculations, the most important parameters related to the molecular ability of tetrazole derivatives as corrosion inhibitors include the adsorption energy (ΔE), E _HOMO, E _LUMO, E _gap, and issues related to chemical reactions, including total hardness (η), electronegativity (χ), and electron fraction transitions from the anti-corrosion molecule to the copper atom (ΔN), were calculated and compared in the tetrazole molecules and their derivatives. Also, with the help of adsorption locator calculations, the inhibitory effects of these compounds were theoretically investigated in an acidic environment. Through these calculations, it was determined that tetrazole molecules with electron-donating groups adsorbed perpendicularly to the copper (1 1 1) surface, by forming a stronger bond, are considered suitable corrosion inhibitors. Also, among the examined molecules, the 2H-tetrazole isomer form plays a more influential role than the 1H-tetrazole form.

Synthesis of efficient bi-anchoring bifuran/biphenyl derivatives for dye-sensitized solar cell applications†

The synthesis, description, and demonstration of dye-sensitive solar cell sensitizers containing bifuran/biphenyl derivatives with cyanoacetic acid, barbiturate, thiobarbituric acid, and 4-carboxylcyanoacetamides have been reported. A photovoltaic performance measurement was conducted using the Ru(ii) dye N3 as a reference to examine the effects of different electron acceptor units and replacement of the π-spacer bifuran by biphenyl units on the photophysical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties of eight new distinct organic dyes HB-1–8. The new organic dyes HB-1–8 were prepared and compared with the N3 metal dye. Density functional theory calculations were carried out to explore the ground state geometrical structures and electronic structures of the eight dyes. Under standard global AM 1.5 solar condition, the solar cells based on HB-1–8 show the overall power conversion efficiencies of 2.93–5.51%. The presented research shows that the organic dye photovoltaic performances can vary greatly depending on the type of electron donor and acceptor used. Dye HB-3 exhibited the highest efficiency among the eight investigated dyes, reaching 5.51% with a V_OC value higher than N3.

We have synthesized new metal-free dyes (HB-1–8) containing bifuran/biphenyl derivatives for dye-sensitized solar cells. Dye HB-3 exhibited the highest efficiency among the eight investigated dyes, reaching 5.51% with a V_OC value higher than N3.

Synthesis of innovative triphenylamine-functionalized organic photosensitizers outperformed the benchmark dye N719 for high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells

Herein, we present a thorough photovoltaic investigation of four triphenylamine organic sensitizers with D–π–A configurations and compare their photovoltaic performances to the conventional ruthenium-based sensitizer N719. SFA-5–8 are synthesized and utilized as sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications. The effects of the donor unit (triphenylamine), π-conjugation bridge (thiophene ring), and various acceptors (phenylacetonitrile and 2-cyanoacetamide derivatives) were investigated. Moreover, this was asserted by profound calculations of HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) and LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) energy levels, the molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), and natural bond orbital (NBO) that had been studied for the TPA-sensitizers. Theoretical density functional theory (DFT) was performed to study the distribution of electron density between donor and acceptor moieties. The sensitization by the absorption of sensitizers SFA-5–8 leads to an obvious enhancement in the visible light absorption (300–750 nm) as well as a higher photovoltaic efficiency in the range of (5.53–7.56%). Under optimized conditions, SFA-7 showed outstanding sensitization of nanocrystalline TiO₂, resulting in enhancing the visible light absorption and upgrading the power conversion efficiency (PCE) to approximately 7.56% over that reported for the N719 (7.29%). Remarkably, SFA-7 outperformed N719 by 4% in the total conversion efficiency. Significantly, the superior performance of SFA-7 could be mainly ascribed to the higher short-circuit photocurrents (Jsc) in parallel with larger open-circuit voltages (Voc) and more importantly, the presence of different anchoring moieties that could enhance the ability to fill the gaps on the surface of the TiO₂ semiconductor. That could be largely reflected in the overall enhancement in the device efficiency. Moreover, the theoretical electronic and photovoltaic properties of all studied sensitizers have been compared with experimental results. All the 2-cyanoacrylamide derivative sensitizers demonstrated robust photovoltaic performance.