IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i17p4751-d1743828.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tunable Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells via Co-Sensitization and Energy Transfer from Spiropyran Derivatives to YD2

Author

Listed:
  • Keitaro Ono

    (Department of Applied Science and Engineering, Fukui University of Technology, Fukui 910-8505, Japan)

  • Ryuhei Ejima

    (Department of Applied Science and Engineering, Fukui University of Technology, Fukui 910-8505, Japan)

  • Michihiro Hara

    (Department of Applied Science and Engineering, Fukui University of Technology, Fukui 910-8505, Japan)

Abstract

We fabricated dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) co-sensitized with the organic dye YD2 and a spiropyran derivative (SPNO 2 ), a photochromic molecule capable of reversible isomerization under light irradiation. Upon UV exposure, SPNO 2 converts from its closed spiropyran (SP) form to the open photomerocyanine (PMC) form, which absorbs visible light and changes the optical properties of the photoelectrode. Spectroscopic analysis showed an 18% decrease in transmittance at 540 nm after UV irradiation and a 10% increase following visible light exposure. These changes were accompanied by a 0.5% increase in power conversion efficiency (η) after 5 min of UV irradiation, and a 0.83% decrease after 10 min of visible light. Although direct electron injection from PMC into TiO 2 appears inefficient, the enhanced performance is attributed to Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from PMC to YD2. This photoresponsive behavior highlights a co-sensitization strategy that combines dynamic optical control and efficient energy transfer. Our findings demonstrate a promising approach to designing smart DSSCs with externally tunable photovoltaic properties using photochromic sensitizers.

Suggested Citation

  • Keitaro Ono & Ryuhei Ejima & Michihiro Hara, 2025. "Tunable Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells via Co-Sensitization and Energy Transfer from Spiropyran Derivatives to YD2," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-11, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:17:p:4751-:d:1743828
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/17/4751/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/17/4751/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:17:p:4751-:d:1743828. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.