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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Marina FreitagORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry.In order to sustainably support its ever-increasing energy demand, the human society will have to harvest renewable energy wherever and whenever possible. When converting light to electricity, silicon solar cells are the technology of choice to harvest direct sunlight due to their high performance and continuously dropping price. For diffused light and indoor applications, however, silicon is not the material of choice. To power the next gizmo in your smart home, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are a viable alternative. Made from inexpensive, earth-abundant, and non-toxic materials, DSCs perform best at low light intensity. So far, issues such as leakage of the liquid electrolyte and its corrosive nature have limited the commercialization of this technology. To overcome these limitations, solid-state DSCs (ssDSCs)-in which the liquid electrolyte is replaced by a solid material-have been developed. For many years their efficiencies have been poor, preventing them from being widely employed. In the past six years, however, research efforts have led them to rival with their liquid counterparts. Here, we will review recent advancements in the field of ssDSCs. Every device component will be acknowledged, from metal oxides and new dyes to novel hole transporters, dopants, counter-electrodes and device architectures. After reviewing materials, long-term stability of devices will be addressed, finally giving an insight into the future that awaits this exciting technology.
Author(s): Benesperi I, Michaels H, Freitag M
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Materials Chemistry C
Year: 2018
Volume: 6
Issue: 44
Pages: 11903-11942
Online publication date: 21/09/2018
Acceptance date: 21/09/2018
ISSN (print): 2050-7534
ISSN (electronic): 2050-7526
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
URL: https://doi.org/10.1039/C8TC03542C
DOI: 10.1039/c8tc03542c
