The electron-injection energy losses of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are among the fundamental problems hindering their successful breakthrough application. Two triazatruxene (TAT)-based sensitizers, with one containing a flexible Z-type double bond and another a rigid single bond, coded as ZL001 and ZL003, respectively, have been synthesized and applied in DSSCs to probe the energy losses in the process of electron injection. Using time-resolved laser spectroscopic techniques in the kinetic study, ZL003 with the rigid single bond promotes much faster electron injection into the conductive band of TiO2 especially in the locally excited state (hot injection), which leads to higher electron density in TiO2 and a higher V-oc. The devices based on ZL003 exhibited a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.6% with V-oc = 956 mV, J(sc) = 20.73 mA cm(-2), and FF = 68.5%, which are among the highest recorded results to date on single dye-sensitized DSSCs. An independent certified PCE of 12.4% has been obtained for devices based on ZL003.

First-row transition metal-based catalysts have been developed for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) during the past years, however, such catalysts typically operate at overpotentials (eta) significantly above thermodynamic requirements. Here, we report an iron/ nickel terephthalate coordination polymer on nickel form (NiFeCP/NF) as catalyst for OER, in which both coordinated and uncoordinated carboxylates were maintained after electrolysis. NiFeCP/NF exhibits outstanding electro-catalytic OER activity with a low overpotential of 188 mV at 10 mA cm(-2) in 1.0 KOH, with a small Tafel slope and excellent stability. The pH-independent OER activity of NiFeCP/NF on the reversible hydrogen electrode scale suggests that a concerted proton-coupled electron transfer (c-PET) process is the rate-determining step (RDS) during water oxidation. Deuterium kinetic isotope effects, proton inventory studies and atom-proton-transfer measurements indicate that the uncoordinated carboxylates are serving as the proton transfer relays, with a similar function as amino acid residues in photosystem II (PSII), accelerating the proton-transfer rate.

In this series of articles, the board members of ChemSusChem discuss recent research articles that they consider of exceptional quality and importance for sustainability. This entry features Prof. L. Sun, who proposes a special mechanism for O-O bond formation in photosystem II with involvement of an Mn-VII-oxo species induced by charge- and structural rearrangements. In this viewpoint, Proton transfer is involved in changes of the first coordination spheres around the Mn-VII-oxo site on the dangling Mn4 with de- and re-coordination of carboxylates (Glu333 and Asp170).

Molecular catalysis plays an essential role in both natural and artificial photosynthesis (AP). However, the field of molecular catalysis for AP has gradually declined in recent years because of doubt about the long-term stability of molecular-catalyst-based devices. This review summarizes the development history of molecular-catalyst-based AP, including the fundamentals of AP, molecular catalysts for water oxidation, proton reduction and CO2 reduction, and molecular-catalyst-based AP devices, and it provides an analysis of the advantages, challenges, and stability of molecular catalysts. With this review, we aim to highlight the following points: (i) an investigation on molecular catalysis is one of the most promising ways to obtain atom-efficient catalysts with outstanding intrinsic activities; (ii) effective heterogenization of molecular catalysts is currently the primary challenge for the application of molecular catalysis in AP devices; (iii) development of molecular catalysts is a promising way to solve the problems of catalysis involved in practical solar fuel production. In molecular-catalysis-based AP, much has been attained, but more challenges remain with regard to long-term stability and heterogenization techniques.

A facile preparation of bio-inspired and morphology controllable catalytic electrode FeS@MoS2/CFC, featuring a carbon fiber cloth (CFC) covered with FeS dotted MoS2 nanosheets, has been established. Synergy between the CFC as a self-standing conductive substrate and the FeS nanoparticle dotted MoS2 nanosheets with abundant active sites makes the noble-metal-free catalytic electrode FeS@MoS2/CFC highly efficient in nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR), with an ammonia production rate of 8.45 mu g h(-1) cm(-2) and excellent long-term stability at -0.5 V in pH neutral electrolyte. Further electrolysis in acidic and alkaline electrolytes revealed the overall NRR catalytic activity of this electrode over a wide pH range.

The development of facilely synthesized, dopant-free hole-transporting materials (HTMs) with high efficiency is of great significance for the potential application of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, we report two novel indolo[3,2-b]carbazole (ICZ) based small molecules obtained via a three-step reaction in a high yield without using expensive catalysts, namely C201 and C202, and further apply them as dopant-free HTMs in PSCs. Compared with C201, C202 contains two additional biphenylamino groups to improve its spatial configuration. It is found that the interplay between the molecular geometry and the aggregation behavior can exert a great influence on the film formation property and thus on the device performance. Strikingly, the champion devices employing C202 as the HTM deliver a much higher PCE of up to 17.7%, which is substantially higher than that of devices containing C201 (8.7%) under 100 mW cm(-2) illumination (AM 1.5G). It is revealed that the C202 capping layer exhibits a more homogeneous and uniform surface morphology as compared to that of C201, which effectively reduces the charge recombination losses and facilitates charge extraction, leading to a much-enhanced photovoltaic performance. This is the first example of ICZ core-based small molecules as dopant-free HTMs in PSCs. Moreover, the PSCs containing C202 as the HTM also exhibited good long-term stability under ambient conditions (40% RH) as compared to devices with doped spiro-OMeTAD, due largely to the hydrophobic nature of C202 which prevented moisture from destroying the perovskite film. This work offers a new avenue for developing cost-effective and stable HTMs for PSCs and other optoelectronic devices.

Mesoporous LaFeO3 was used as a p-type visible-light-absorbing semiconductor (VLAS) substrate for light-driven H-2 generation. The successful modification of LaFeO3 with a molecular dye (P1*) and a molecular hydrogen production catalyst (NiP) paved a novel way to construct DS-PEC photocathodes for solar-driven H-2 generation by using VLASs.

A new conducting polymer poly (3, 4-phenylenedioxythiophene) is synthesized by the electrochemical polymerization technique with different solvents. We find that solvents used in electrochemical polymerization play important roles for the catalytic activity and morphology of the formed conducting polymers. The obtained poly (3, 4-phenylenedioxythiophene) is for the first time employed as counter electrode electrocatalyst in dye sensitized solar cells with cobalt-based electrolytes. We demonstrate that a polymer prepared from a mixed acetonitrile-dichloromethane solvent exhibit higher catalytic activity for redox reactions, as compared to that from a single solvent, dichloromethane. The devices based on this mixed solvent-based polymer from a mixed solvents show a high power conversion efficiency of 5.97%. An additional advantageous feature of the electrochemically polymerized poly (3, 4-phenylenedioxythiophene) for solar cell applications is the high transparency in the visible and nearinfrared region. We also investigate the beneficial effect of the poly (3, 4-phenylenedioxythiophene) layer thickness on device performance, and concluded that the series resistance and charge transfer resistance are greatly influenced by the thickness of polymer, as evidenced by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. The optimal thickness for poly (3, 4-phenylenedioxythiophene) is about 100 nm. Furthermore, the high catalytic activity and transparency of the new conducting polymer as counter electrode shows great promise for other optoelectronic applications.

Four weak donor backbones (BT, BTP, BT2, and BT3), featuring stepwise enhanced electron-donating capacities, are designed and synthesized. The sp(3) type carbons introduced are tethered with auxiliary groups to generate a better electron-blocking stereoscopic structure. A series of NB dyes are subsequently synthesized from these central cores by end-capping a strong diphenylamine donor and a planar heterocyclic acceptor 4-(benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol-4-ylethynyl)benzoic acid. The fine-tuning of steric configurations and energy levels of the resulting dye molecules reduces the energy losses significantly when applied in dye-sensitized solar cells. These devices offer one of the highest open-circuit voltages (approximate to 1.03 V) reported so far, and high power conversion efficiencies of 9.6%-12.1% using the NB dyes in combination with a well-developed cobalt-tris(4-methoxyphenyl)amine-based tandem electrolyte.

Conjugated polymers have been widely used as hole transport materials (HTM) in the preparation of mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this work, we employed p-type doped conducting polymer known as poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-bis-N,N-(-4-butyl phenyl)-bis-N,N-phenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine) (PFB) as a hole transport material (HTM) in perovskite based solar cell. The effect of dopant concentration on the optical and electrical properties of PEB was investigated to optimize the electrical properties of the material for the best function of the solar cell. The highest power conversion efficiency of mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (PSCs), fabricated in this investigation, was found to be 14.04% which is 57% higher than that of pristine PFB hole transport layer. The UV–Vis absorption and Raman spectroscopy measurements confirm the occurrence of oxidation in a p-type doped PFB hole transport layer. This is attributed to the transfer of electrons from the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of PEB to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of F4TCNQ. The solar cells produced using p-type doped PFB:F4TCNQ composite not only improves device performances but also shows superior long-term stability. The optical, morphological and electrical properties of the doped composite PFB: F4TCNQ and newly fabricated devices are presented and discussed in this paper.