Solar charge transport

Yang, N. Zhai, J. Wang, D. Chen, Y. Jiang, L., Two-dimensional graphene bridges enhanced photoinduced charge transport in dye-sensitized solar cells. ACS Nano 2010, 4, 887-894. 

Under the advisement of PhD mentor Professor Joseph T. Hupp, the PI successfully used spectroelectrochemical quartz crystal microgravimetry to elucidate the mechanism of charge transport... for both aqueous and nonaqueous sytems. This was the first demonstration of proton-coupled electron transfer at oxide semiconductor interfaces. These findings were then successfully applied to a new interpretation of photoinduced electron transfer at similar interfaces, which are of importance in the field of solar energy conversion. ... 

Although the anthracene units are coplanar, there is no electronic interaction between the chromophores in the crystal. Although such an arrangement makes this class of anthracene derivatives unusable for use in applications requiring efficient charge transport (organic transistors or solar cells), the insulation of the fluorescent chromophore induced by this method may make these materials useful as emitters in OLEDs. 

Furthermore, these data strongly suggest that the positive temperature dependence of Isc, FF, and r) may be characteristic for solar cells based on organic semiconductors that show a temperature-activated behavior for charge transport, resulting in higher mobility/conductivity at higher temperatures (as also observed, for example, for some types of amorphous silicon solar cells [162]). 

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