Enhanced Harvesting of Red Photons in Nanowire Solar Cells: Evidence of Resonance Energy Transfer

Modern excitonic solar cells efficiently harvest photons in the 350-650 nm spectral range; however, device efficiencies are typically limited by poor quantum yields for red and near-infrared photons. Using Forster-type resonance energy transfer from zinc phthalocyanine donor molecules to ruthenium polypyridine complex acceptors, we demonstrate a four-fold increase in quantum yields for red photons in dye-sensitized nanowire array solar cells. The dissolved donor and surface anchored acceptor molecules are not tethered to each other, through either a direct chemical bond or a covalent linker layer. The spatial confinement of the electrolyte imposed by the wire-to-wire spacing of the close-packed nanowire array architecture ensures that the distances between a significant fraction of donors and acceptors are within a Forster radius. The critical distance for energy transfer from an isolated donor chromophore to a self-assembled monolayer of acceptors on a plane follows the inverse fourth power instead of the inverse sixth power relation. Consequently, we observe near quantitative energy transfer efficiencies in our devices. Our results represent a new design paradigm in excitonic solar cells and show it is possible to more closely match the spectral response of the device to the AM 1.5 solar spectrum through use of electronic energy transfer.