Molecular Approaches to Solar Energy Conversion with Coordination Compounds Anchored to Semiconductor Surfaces

2005 ◽  
Vol 44 (20) ◽  
pp. 6852-6864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald J. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Solar Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Coordination Compounds ◽  
Solar Energy Conversion ◽  
Semiconductor Surfaces ◽  
Molecular Approaches

scholarly journals Molecular approaches to solar energy conversion: the energetic cost of charge separation from molecular-excited states

2013 ◽  
Vol 371 (1996) ◽  
pp. 20120195 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Durrant
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cell ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Excited States ◽  
Solar Energy Conversion ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
The Core ◽  
Molecular Approaches ◽  
Cell Technologies ◽  
Molecular Excited States

This review starts with a brief overview of the technological potential of molecular-based solar cell technologies. It then goes on to focus on the core scientific challenge associated with using molecular light-absorbing materials for solar energy conversion, namely the separation of short-lived, molecular-excited states into sufficiently long-lived, energetic, separated charges capable of generating an external photocurrent. Comparisons are made between different molecular-based solar cell technologies, with particular focus on the function of dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical solar cells as well as parallels with the function of photosynthetic reaction centres. The core theme of this review is that generating charge carriers with sufficient lifetime and a high quantum yield from molecular-excited states comes at a significant energetic cost—such that the energy stored in these charge-separated states is typically substantially less than the energy of the initially generated excited state. The role of this energetic loss in limiting the efficiency of solar energy conversion by such devices is emphasized, and strategies to minimize this energy loss are compared and contrasted.

scholarly journals Photophysics and Photochemistry of Iron Carbene Complexes for Solar Energy Conversion and Photocatalysis

Catalysts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linnea Lindh ◽  
Pavel Chábera ◽  
Nils W. Rosemann ◽  
Jens Uhlig ◽  
Kenneth Wärnmark ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Excited State ◽  
Charge Transfer ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Excited States ◽  
Coordination Compounds ◽  
Solar Energy Conversion ◽  
Carbene Complexes ◽  
Photochemical Properties ◽  
Iron Carbenes

Earth-abundant first row transition metal complexes are important for the development of large-scale photocatalytic and solar energy conversion applications. Coordination compounds based on iron are especially interesting, as iron is the most common transition metal element in the Earth’s crust. Unfortunately, iron-polypyridyl and related traditional iron-based complexes generally suffer from poor excited state properties, including short excited-state lifetimes, that make them unsuitable for most light-driven applications. Iron carbene complexes have emerged in the last decade as a new class of coordination compounds with significantly improved photophysical and photochemical properties, that make them attractive candidates for a range of light-driven applications. Specific aspects of the photophysics and photochemistry of these iron carbenes discussed here include long-lived excited state lifetimes of charge transfer excited states, capabilities to act as photosensitizers in solar energy conversion applications like dye-sensitized solar cells, as well as recent demonstrations of promising progress towards driving photoredox and photocatalytic processes. Complementary advances towards photofunctional systems with both Fe(II) complexes featuring metal-to-ligand charge transfer excited states, and Fe(III) complexes displaying ligand-to-metal charge transfer excited states are discussed. Finally, we outline emerging opportunities to utilize the improved photochemical properties of iron carbenes and related complexes for photovoltaic, photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic applications.

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