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Donor/Conductor/Acceptor Triads Spatially Organized on the Micrometer‐Length Scale: An Alternative Approach to Photovoltaic Cells
Author(s) -
Llabrés i Xamena Francesc X.,
Teruel Laura,
Alvaro Mercedes,
Garcia Hermenegildo
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.200600731
Subject(s) - materials science , acceptor , membrane , electron acceptor , polymer , electron transfer , electrolyte , nanotechnology , electrode , chemical engineering , chemistry , photochemistry , composite material , biochemistry , physics , condensed matter physics , engineering
We have used porous anodised Al 2 O 3 membranes as inert matrix for constructing and organizing spatially ternary donor/conductor/acceptor (DCA) systems exhibiting photovoltaic cell activity on the micrometric‐length scale. These DCA triads were built stepwise by first growing a conducting polymer inside the membrane pores, thus forming nanorods that completely fill the internal pore space of the membrane. Then, an electron donor and an electron acceptor were adsorbed one on each side of the membrane, so that they were separated by a distance equal to the membrane thickness (ca. 60 μm), but electronically connected through the conductive polymer. When this device was placed between two electrodes and irradiated with visible light, electrons jumped from the donor molecule, crossed the membrane from side to side through the conductive polymer (a journey of about 60 μm!) until they finally reach the acceptor molecule. In so doing, an electric voltage was generated between the two electrodes, capable of maintaining an electric current flow from the membrane to an external circuit. Our DCA device constitutes the proof of a novel concept of photovoltaic cells, since it is based on the spatial organization at the micrometric scale of complementary, but not covalently linked, electron‐donor and electron‐acceptor organic species. Thus, our cell is based in translating photoinduced electron transfer between donors and acceptors, which is known to occur at the molecular nanometric scale, to the micrometric range in a spatially organised system. In addition our cell does not need the use of liquid electrolytes in order to operate, which is one of the main drawbacks in dye‐sensitised solar cells.