Organic solar cell based on photosystem I pigment-protein complex, fabrication and optimization

The trends of using biological materials in electronic devices have made great developments in the last few years. Furthermore, the appealed cost features of organic semiconductors represent a bright low-cost, environment compatible, and efficient future for bio & nanotechnologies, especially Bio-organic solar cells which may consider as a noteworthy option for photovoltaic applications. Here, we report a novel single junction organic solar cell based on photosystem I pigment-protein complex. The complex which operated either as photosensitizer and charge generator compound, surprisingly. Photosystem I complexes were extracted from young spinach leaves and used as the active layer of the intended solid-state solar cell device, subsequently. After the characterization of the final cell, our photovoltaic system showed the current density of 3470 mu A cm(-2) which realizes as a notable approach in between photo-system- I based energy conversion systems. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.