Quick Hints

• You can see the top candidates here.
• You can have multiple search parameters across the tabs. If you aren’t getting enough/any results, consider using less restrictive search criteria.
• To add or remove search parameters, simply navigate through the tabs on the CEPDB page and add or delete values in the table.
• See the FAQ for other common questions.

How to search the CEPDB: step-by-step guides to various search methods

Search by Solar Cell Performance Properties

1. Navigate to http://cepdb.molecularspace.org
2. The default tab is the Name and Substructure tab. To search by Solar Cell Performance Properties, click on the “Solar Cell Performance” tab.
3. Most users are probably interested in searching for materials ranked by power conversion efficiency (PCE). You can see the top candidates here. For other ranges, you can enter your desired minimum and/or maximum PCE in the boxes labelled PCE.
4. Click “Search” at the bottom of the search interface.
5. After the search results are loaded, scroll down to see the results. To see more details about each molecule, click the “Details” link on the right side of each entry.

Search by Name or Structure using SMILES

1. Navigate to http://cepdb.molecularspace.org
2. The default tab is the Name and Substructure tab.
3. Most searches are performed by entering a SMILES string. SMILES, or Simplified Molecular-Input Line-Entry System, is a nomenclature that allows you to describe chemical structures using a string of text. Our search algorithm will default to searching for a substructure that matches the SMILES string that you enter. To obtain exact matches only, check the “Exact search” box on the right. For example, if you enter “c1ccccc1″ (the SMILES string for benzene) as your search term, the output will contain both benzene itself and structures that contain benzene rings.
4. If you don’t know the SMILES string for your desired structure, an easy way to obtain it is through ChemAxon’s online chemical structure editor, located at: http://marvin4js.chemaxon.com/marvin4js-6.0/editorws.html. See the images below for a graphical explanation of this step.
   • Navigate to http://marvin4js.chemaxon.com/marvin4js-6.0/editorws.html and draw your structure:

     

   • After you have drawn your structure, click on the save icon in the top left.

     

   • From the drop-down menu, choose SMILES.

     

     

   • Copy the output and paste it into the search tool on the CEPDB webpage.

     

5. Click “Search” at the bottom of the search interface on the CEPDB website.
6. After the search results are loaded, scroll down to see the results. To see more details about each molecule, click the “Details” link on the right side of each entry.