TONDERAI LINAH RUWA

A review of Perylene diimides for solar cell application Prepared for IRENEC 2018

Abstract

Solar energy has gone past the era of pleading for attention both in research and development as well as in use. Organic materials such as polymers and small molecules are gaining much ground as seen from the exponential rise in publications. This study aims to focus on reviewing the use of polymer materials in photovoltaic applications, in particular, perylene diimides (PDIs) and their derivatives. A number of reviews have been presented previously, this review serves to give an updated look at recent developments and also bring out evidence of the effect of different functional groups at different positions on the material’s chemical and electronic properties. With a clear review of the current synthesized PDIs, a research direction can be mapped to select the PDIs with the highest potential to produce efficient bulk heterojunction BHJ solar cells as well as any existing gaps in the current knowledge base.

Biography

Tonderai Linah Ruwa – Mrs Ruwa holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Zimbabwe (Harare, Zimbabwe) and a Bachelor of Science with honors in Applied Chemistry from the National University of Science and Technology (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe). She is currently a PHD Candidate in Energy Systems Engineering at Cyprus International University (Lefkoşa, TRNC). Her thesis title is; Synthesis, Characterization and Application of Perylene Diimides For Solar Cells.