In order to convert sunlight into electricity or other forms of energy as efficiently as possible, the very first step is an efficient light-harvesting system. Ideally, this should be panchromatic, i.e. absorb the entire spectrum of visible light.
Organic dyes that are suitable for solar cells are much thinner: their layer thickness is only around 100 nanometres. However, they are barely able to absorb a broad spectral range and are therefore not particularly efficient.have now presented an innovative light-harvesting system that differs significantly from previous systems.
The researchers have given the prototype of the new light-harvesting system the name URPB. The letters stand for the light wavelengths that are absorbed by the four dye components of the antenna: U for ultraviolet, R for red, P for purple, B for blue.The researchers have demonstrated that their novel light-collecting system works so well by measuring the so-called fluorescence quantum yield. This involves measuring how much energy the system emits in the form of fluorescence.
Alexander Schulz, Rebecca Fröhlich, Ajay Jayachandran, Franziska Schneider, Matthias Stolte, Tobias Brixner, Frank Würthner.Molecular photoswitches that can both convert and store energy could be used to make solar energy harvesting more efficient. A team of researchers has used a quantum computing method to find a ...