Molecules Found in Blue Jean Dyes May Lead to Better Solar Cells

Friday, July 09 2010

Cornell University researchers have discovered a simple process – employing molecules typically used in blue jean and ink dyes – for building an organic framework that could lead to economical, flexible, and versatile solar cells.

Today’s heavy silicon panels are effective, but they can also be expensive and unwieldy. Searching for alternatives, William Dichtel, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology, and Eric L. Spitler, a National Science Foundation American Competitiveness in Chemistry Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell, employed a strategy that uses organic dye molecules assembled into a structure known as a covalent organic framework (COF). Organic materials have long been recognized as having potential to create thin, flexible, and low-cost photovoltaic devices, but it has been proven difficult to organize their component molecules reliably into ordered structures likely to maximize device performance.

The strategy uses a simple acid catalyst and relatively stable molecules called protected catechols to assemble key organic molecules into a neatly ordered two-dimensional sheet. These sheets stack on top of one another to form a lattice that provides pathways for charge to move through the material.