Housecroft Catherine E, Constable Edwin C
Department of Chemistry, University of Basel Mattenstrasse 24a, BPR 1096 4058 Basel Switzerland
Chem Sci. 2022 Jan 5;13(5):1225-1262. doi: 10.1039/d1sc06828h. eCollection 2022 Feb 2.
The use of renewable energy is essential for the future of the Earth, and solar photons are the ultimate source of energy to satisfy the ever-increasing global energy demands. Photoconversion using dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) is becoming an established technology to contribute to the sustainable energy market, and among state-of-the art DSCs are those which rely on ruthenium(ii) sensitizers and the triiodide/iodide (I /I) redox mediator. Ruthenium is a critical raw material, and in this review, we focus on the use of coordination complexes of the more abundant first row d-block metals, in particular copper, iron and zinc, as dyes in DSCs. A major challenge in these DSCs is an enhancement of their photoconversion efficiencies (PCEs) which currently lag significantly behind those containing ruthenium-based dyes. The redox mediator in a DSC is responsible for regenerating the ground state of the dye. Although the I /I couple has become an established redox shuttle, it has disadvantages: its redox potential limits the values of the open-circuit voltage ( ) in the DSC and its use creates a corrosive chemical environment within the DSC which impacts upon the long-term stability of the cells. First row d-block metal coordination compounds, especially those containing cobalt, and copper, have come to the fore in the development of alternative redox mediators and we detail the progress in this field over the last decade, with particular attention to Cu/Cu redox mediators which, when coupled with appropriate dyes, have achieved values in excess of 1000 mV. We also draw attention to aspects of the recyclability of DSCs.
可再生能源的利用对地球的未来至关重要，而太阳光子是满足全球不断增长的能源需求的最终能源来源。使用染料敏化太阳能电池（DSC）进行光转换正成为一项成熟的技术，有助于可持续能源市场的发展，在最先进的DSC中，有一类依赖钌（II）敏化剂和三碘化物/碘化物（I⁻/I₃⁻）氧化还原介质。钌是一种关键原材料，在本综述中，我们重点关注使用更丰富的第一排d区金属（特别是铜、铁和锌）的配位络合物作为DSC中的染料。这些DSC面临的一个主要挑战是提高其光转换效率（PCE），目前该效率明显落后于含钌基染料的DSC。DSC中的氧化还原介质负责使染料再生到基态。尽管I⁻/I₃⁻对已成为一种成熟的氧化还原穿梭体，但它存在缺点：其氧化还原电位限制了DSC中开路电压（Voc）的值，并且它的使用会在DSC内产生腐蚀性化学环境，影响电池的长期稳定性。第一排d区金属配位化合物，特别是含钴和铜的那些，在替代氧化还原介质的开发中已崭露头角，我们详细介绍了过去十年该领域的进展，特别关注Cu⁺/Cu²⁺氧化还原介质，当与合适的染料结合时，其Voc值已超过1000 mV。我们还提请注意DSC的可回收性方面。
