A high-throughput virtual screening of 45 000 diketopyrrolopyrrole dyes is performed to map their optoelectronic property space and screen for suitable dye-sensitized proton reduction solar-cells.

We demonstrate numerically that photonic crystal dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) can provide at least a factor of one-third enhancement in solar light absorption and power conversion efficiency relative to their conventional counterparts. Our design consists of a lattice of modulated-diameter TiO2 nanotubes filled with TiO2 nanoparticles and interstitial regions filled with electrolyte. This...

This Review focuses on recent developments in the use of ZnO nanostructures for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) applications. It is shown that carefully designed and fabricated nanostructured ZnO films are advantageous for use as a DSC photoelectrode as they offer larger surface areas than bulk film material, direct electron pathways, or effective light-scattering centers, and, when combined wi...

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have emerged as an innovative solar energy conversion technology which provides a pathway for the development of cheap, renewable and environmentally acceptable energy production (Gledhill, Scott et al., 2005; O'Regan & Grätzel, 1991; Shaheen, Ginley et al., 2005). A typical DSSC consists of a sensitizing dye chemically anchored to a nanocrystalline wide band ...

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on nanocrystalline TiO2 have exhibited solar energy-conversion efficiencies of over 10% and remain one of the most promising candidates for cost-effective solar energy conversion devices. The most efficient DSSCs reported to date utilize a high surface area photoanode, which allows for good light harvesting with a moderate extinction dye, in contact with...

A wet-chemical method for increasing the number of quantum dots (QDs) per unit surface area of TiO2 was developed. High density QD surface coating was induced by a surface charge controlled SILAR method, which led to a sixfold increase in photocurrent density from 2.15 mA cm(-2) to 15.03 mA cm(-2) in a QD-sensitized solar cell based on a Hg-doped PbS sensitized 2.4 μm-thick TiO2 film.

The most efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have had essentially the same configuration (nanoparticle TiO2 sensitized with [Ru(4,4 -dicarboxy-2,2-bipyridine)2(NCS)2] in contact with I3 /I ) for the last 17 years. In this article we outline the strategies for improving each of the three major photo-relevant components of a DSSC, review literature reports consistent with these strategie...

The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been proven to have a good chance to become a notable competitor for solar cells based on today technology of p-n junction. The principle of operation of DSSC solar cells in comparison with conventional semiconductor solar cells where light absorption and charge carrier transport are done by the semiconductor is different. In DSSC these two tasks are sep...

This review gives a detailed summary and evaluation of the use of TiO2 doping to improve the performance of dye sensitized solar cells. Doping has a major effect on the band structure and trap states of TiO2, which in turn affect important properties such as the conduction band energy, charge transport, recombination and collection. The defect states of TiO2 are highly dependent on the synthesi...

Modern dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology was built upon nanoparticle wide bandgap semiconductor photoanodes. While versatile and robust, the sintered nanoparticle architecture exhibits exceedingly slow electron transport that ultimately restricts the diversity of feasible redox mediators. The small collection of suitable mediators limits both our understanding of an intriguing heterog...