Development of Signlet Fission Materials for Third-Generation Solar Cells
Abstract
Development of Singlet Fission Materials for Third-Generation Solar Cells Luis M. Campos Department of Chemistry Columbia University PROJECT SUMMARY In order to shift our dependence on fossil fuels to renewable energy, robust and viable alternative technologies must be developed that offer versatility across multiple applications, inexpensive production, and portability. In this vein, the renewable energy landscape based on solar energy conversion has thus far been dominated by first-generation solar cells, which are commercially available devices made from silicon. These photovoltaic devices are expensive to fabricate, and the past two decades have witnessed tremendous efforts to develop secondgeneration photovoltaic devices based on thin-film technology, which offer significantly reduced manufacturing costs. Such second-generation devices operate by conventional mechanisms, wherein one photon generates a single pair of charge carriers (an electron-hole pair,). Thus, the Shockley-Queisser limit defines the upper theoretical value of power conversion efficiency at 33% due to thermal losses within a single junction solar cell. Demands to improve state-of-the-art renewable energy sources has led to the conceptualization of third-generation solar cells, which take advantage of non-conventional mechanisms to generate charge, and have the potential to emerge as high efficiency devices. These devices are based on materials that are capable of creating multiple carriers from a single photon, thus increasing the theoretical limit to 44%. To date, however, the paucity of materials capable of multi-exciton generation has severely hindered the development of third-generation solar cell technology. We propose herein to develop a general model for the design of organic materials that are capable of singlet fission. Through structure-property relationship studies, we will achieve a deep understanding of the fundamental mechanism of exciton multiplication in these systems. Our goal is to synthesize polymers and small molecules anticipated to be capable of iSF, based on a modular model developed in our group. Insights from the mechanism of xSF provide the basis for the selection of building blocks for new iSF-capable materials based on strong-donor/strong-acceptor interactions. Moving away from conventional approaches to iSF in organic materials, we will focus on developing guidelines to design and synthesize families of molecules and polymers to obtain highly efficient iSF chromophores.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512532
Entities
People
- Luis Miguel
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
- United States Navy