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October 27, 2011 |
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Prof. Carly Reed
The College at Brockport, Department of Chemistry
Brockport, NY
Photophysical Properties of Dimetal Tetracarboxylates
Traditional silicon solar cells are very efficient (h = 27%), however, this efficiency comes at a cost that makes it difficult for solar energy to compete with electricity produced from fossil fuels (www.eia.gov, www.nrel.gov). Over the last two decades, new types of solar cells have been developed which incorporate small molecule dyes or polymers as the light harvesters, rather than silicon, decreasing the materials cost of devices. However, these new solar cells lack the efficiency (h = 11%) of silicon and research is ongoing to improve several aspects of the cells, including dye optimization, in an attempt to increase this. With this knowledge in mind, quadruply bonded dimetal paddlewheel complexes of the structure M2(TiPB)2(O2CL)2, where M = Mo, W; TiPB = 2,4,6–triisopropylbenzoate, have been synthesized and exploration of properties via UV-Vis, fluorescence, transient absorption, and time-resolved infrared spectroscopies have revealed interesting photophysical properties which may be useful for dye based solar cells.
