Journal ArticleDOI
A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films
TLDR
In this article, the authors describe a photovoltaic cell, created from low-to medium-purity materials through low-cost processes, which exhibits a commercially realistic energy-conversion efficiency.Abstract:
THE large-scale use of photovoltaic devices for electricity generation is prohibitively expensive at present: generation from existing commercial devices costs about ten times more than conventional methods1. Here we describe a photovoltaic cell, created from low-to medium-purity materials through low-cost processes, which exhibits a commercially realistic energy-conversion efficiency. The device is based on a 10-µm-thick, optically transparent film of titanium dioxide particles a few nanometres in size, coated with a monolayer of a charge-transfer dye to sensitize the film for light harvesting. Because of the high surface area of the semiconductor film and the ideal spectral characteristics of the dye, the device harvests a high proportion of the incident solar energy flux (46%) and shows exceptionally high efficiencies for the conversion of incident photons to electrical current (more than 80%). The overall light-to-electric energy conversion yield is 7.1-7.9% in simulated solar light and 12% in diffuse daylight. The large current densities (greater than 12 mA cm-2) and exceptional stability (sustaining at least five million turnovers without decomposition), as well as the low cost, make practical applications feasible.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Oligothiophene-containing coumarin dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells.
Kohjiro Hara,Zhong-Sheng Wang,Tadatake Sato,Akihiro Furube,Ryuzi Katoh,Hideki Sugihara,Yasufumi Dan-oh,Chiaki Kasada,and Akira Shinpo,Sadaharu Suga +9 more
TL;DR: Transient absorption spectroscopy measurements indicated that electron injection from NKX-2677 to the conduction band of TiO(2) is very rapid (<100 fs), which is much faster than the emission lifetime of the dye (1.0 ns), giving a highly efficient electron injection yield of near unity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Organic - Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells: A Comparative Review
Matthew Wright,Ashraf Uddin +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the state of the art for bulk heterojunction organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells is presented. But, the design of the inorganic material used as the electron acceptor, particularly the electronic structure, is crucial to the performance of the device and there exists an optimal electronic structure design for an inorganic acceptor.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nano‐embossed Hollow Spherical TiO2 as Bifunctional Material for High‐Efficiency Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells
Journal ArticleDOI
Photoelectrochromic windows and displays
TL;DR: In this article, an electrochromic film and a photovoltaic film form the two electrodes of an electrochemical cell, and the resulting structure exhibits photochromism, but unlike conventional photochromic films, the light absorbing process (in the photovolastic film) is separate from the coloration process.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phenyl-Conjugated Oligoene Sensitizers for TiO2 Solar Cells
Takayuki Kitamura,Masaaki Ikeda,Koichiro Shigaki,Teruhisa Inoue,Neil A. Anderson,Xin Ai,and Tianquan Lian,Shozo Yanagida +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, a series of novel oligoene dyes which have different lengths of methine units, cyano groups and/or carboxylic groups as the electron acceptor units, and amino groups as electron donor units was designed and synthesized.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode
Akira Fujishima,Kenichi Honda +1 more
TL;DR: Water photolysis is investigated by exploiting the fact that water is transparent to visible light and cannot be decomposed directly, but only by radiation with wavelengths shorter than 190 nm.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ru(II) polypyridine complexes: photophysics, photochemistry, eletrochemistry, and chemiluminescence
Alberto Juris,Vincenzo Balzani,F. Barigelletti,Sebastiano Campagna,Peter Belser,A. Von Zelewsky +5 more
Journal ArticleDOI
Vectorial electron injection into transparent semiconductor membranes and electric field effects on the dynamics of light-induced charge separation
TL;DR: In this article, the dynamics of charge recombination following electron injection from the excited state of RuL{sub 3} into the conduction band of the semiconductor were examined under potentiostatic control of the electric field within the space charge layer of the membrane.
Journal ArticleDOI
The impact of semiconductors on the concepts of electrochemistry
TL;DR: In this article, it was realized that semiconductor electrodes behave differently in many respects and offer new insights into the role played by the electronic properties of a solid in its electrochemical reactivity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Electrochemistry and photochemistry of MoS2 layer crystals. I
H. Tributsch,J.C. Bennett +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the chemical and photochemical behavior of MoS 2 -van der Waals surfaces in contact with an aqueous electrolyte has been investigated by means of electrochemical techniques.