Toward the Computational Design of Iron-Based Chromophores

Abstract

This proposal focuses on computational studies of Fe(II)-polypyridine compounds as sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Starting from the prototype Fe(II)-polypyridine complexes ([Fe(bpy)3]2+, [Fe(tpy)2]2+, and [Fe(bpy)2(CN)2]0), we aim to explore how various modifications to the bipyridine and terpyridine ligands, as well as their replacement by ligands of varying ligand field strength, impact the ground and excited state properties of these compounds relevant to the light-harvesting. Our aim is to identify the modifications that will result in the most favorable visible light absorption profiles and the most efficient interfacial electron transfer between the dye and the semiconductor in the DSSCs. In addition to computational investigation of Fe(II) chromophores, this proposal also seeks to develop computational approaches to reliable modeling of spin-state energetics in first-row transition metal complexes and interfacial electron transfer in dye-semiconductor assemblies. There are 3 specific aims of this proposal: (1) increase the lifetime of metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) states of the Fe(II)-polypyridine complexes, (2) optimize absorption properties of Fe(II)-polypyridine compounds, and (3) speed-up the rate of the interfacial electron transfer (IET) between the excited chromophore and semiconductor.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 31, 2018
Accession Number
AD1068025

Entities

People

  • Elena Jakubikova

Organizations

  • North Carolina State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption Spectra
  • Carboxylic Acids
  • Charge Transfer
  • Chemical Compounds
  • Chemistry
  • Computational Chemistry
  • Computational Science
  • Conduction Bands
  • Density Functional Theory
  • Electron Density
  • Electron Transfer
  • Electrons
  • Inorganic Chemistry
  • Molecular Dynamics
  • Nanoparticles
  • Quantum Efficiency
  • Solar Cells

Fields of Study

  • Chemistry

Readers

  • Chemistry (specifically Chemical Fluorescence)
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
  • Electrochemical Surface Science

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics