| Summary: |
The most critical challenge of the contemporary society is reducing the CO2 emissions associated with energy use. Sunlight is by far the most power renewable energy source and Portugal is one of the EU countries with more solar exposition. Since photovoltaic electricity is not dispatchable, storing strategies of solar irradiance are envisioned; different routes are being explored but artificial photosynthesis is one of them. With this in mind, PorphSol project aims to design and synthesising new porphyrinoids with appropriate structural features to improve the efficiency of emerging solar devices:
1) Photovoltaic- designing light absorbers for dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs) taking advantage of high light absorption features of porphyrins; the envisioned absorbers will integrate a push-pull porphyrinic core functionalised with nitrogenated heterocyclic donors or even bearing fused rings, and thereby reinforce the absorption in the NIR region. A proper photoelectrode architecture and Co2+/Co3+ electrolyte will provide the remaining tools to push the PV performance towards 14% efficiency.
2) Photovoltaic - designing thermal stable hole transport materials (HTMs) with strong Vis/NIR light absorption features to reach 18% energy conversion in perovskite solar cells (PSCs); these HTMs will be based on attaining porphyrins bearing mixed nitrogenated donors.
3) Artificial photosynthesis - assessing for the first time the catalytic activity of fused porphyrin-phthalocyanine conjugates in the electrochemical reduction of CO2.
PorphSol project benefits from the know-how on DSCs (ERC grant - BI-DSC), PSCs (FET Open GOTSolar) and photoelectrochemical devices (EU projects NanoPEC and PECDEMO and national project SunStorage) by LEPABE laboratory (UPORTO) and the country's unique competence on the synthesis and characterisation of porphyrinoids by PI and QOPNA laboratory (UAVR). Taking advantage of the close collaboration of LEPABE with local and international energy in  |
Summary
The most critical challenge of the contemporary society is reducing the CO2 emissions associated with energy use. Sunlight is by far the most power renewable energy source and Portugal is one of the EU countries with more solar exposition. Since photovoltaic electricity is not dispatchable, storing strategies of solar irradiance are envisioned; different routes are being explored but artificial photosynthesis is one of them. With this in mind, PorphSol project aims to design and synthesising new porphyrinoids with appropriate structural features to improve the efficiency of emerging solar devices:
1) Photovoltaic- designing light absorbers for dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs) taking advantage of high light absorption features of porphyrins; the envisioned absorbers will integrate a push-pull porphyrinic core functionalised with nitrogenated heterocyclic donors or even bearing fused rings, and thereby reinforce the absorption in the NIR region. A proper photoelectrode architecture and Co2+/Co3+ electrolyte will provide the remaining tools to push the PV performance towards 14% efficiency.
2) Photovoltaic - designing thermal stable hole transport materials (HTMs) with strong Vis/NIR light absorption features to reach 18% energy conversion in perovskite solar cells (PSCs); these HTMs will be based on attaining porphyrins bearing mixed nitrogenated donors.
3) Artificial photosynthesis - assessing for the first time the catalytic activity of fused porphyrin-phthalocyanine conjugates in the electrochemical reduction of CO2.
PorphSol project benefits from the know-how on DSCs (ERC grant - BI-DSC), PSCs (FET Open GOTSolar) and photoelectrochemical devices (EU projects NanoPEC and PECDEMO and national project SunStorage) by LEPABE laboratory (UPORTO) and the country's unique competence on the synthesis and characterisation of porphyrinoids by PI and QOPNA laboratory (UAVR). Taking advantage of the close collaboration of LEPABE with local and international energy industry (e.g. EFACEC (PT), Dyesol (UK), SolarTransparency (PT) and VisBlue (DK and PT)), the AMBITION of PorphSol is to bring together fundamental research and technological advances to develop advantageous solutions based on porphyrinoids chemistry. |