The application of photosynthetic materials and architectures to solar cells

Photosynthetic approaches to redesigning photovoltaics (PV) offer an attractive route towards achieving high-efficiency, low-cost solar energy transduction. This thesis explores two routes toward this end: the direct integration of photosynthetic structures into solid-state devices and the architectural redesign of organic solar cells to more closely parallel photosynthesis. The highly accent photosynthetic reaction center is the site of exciton dissociation in photosynthesis, analogous to the role of the donor-acceptor interface in organic PV. This thesis describes the successful integration of reaction centers with organic semiconductors into solid-state devices. Although functional, we nd that these devices suer the same limitation as the more traditional organic PV: the ability to absorb enough light. Photosynthetic bacteria and plants compartmentalize the processes leading to light energy conversion. This spatial separation of structures augments the evolutionary design space: the processes of photon absorption and exciton dissociation occur in two separate locations, allowing the independent functional optimization of each.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Mapel, Jonathan King

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Marc A. Baldo.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35302

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35302