A pyrene photoluminescent layer is coated on the front side of a dye-sensitized solar cell to enhance the power conversion efficiency. The power conversion efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cell coated with a pyrene photoluminescent layer improves from 9.12 ± 0.06% to 10.30 ± 0.11% (an improvement of 12.94%).

Two different natural dyes containing anthocyanin extracted from black carrot and bramble from Iran. Spectrophotometric evaluations of the natural dyes in solution and on a TiO2 substrate were carried out in order to assess changes in the status of the natural dyes. The results show that the natural dyes indicate buthochromic shift on the TiO2 substrates. The chemical adsorption of natural dyes...

Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of different nanocrystals synthesized in ferritin to act as light harvesters for high-efficiency solar cells. This study investigates the possibility of using these nanocrystals as alternative dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Four different dye-sensitized solar cells were successfully fabricated using iron, cobalt, manganese, and lead-sulfide n...

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have achieved impressive conversion efficiencies for solar energy of over 11% with an electrolyte that contains triiodide/iodide as a redox couple. Although triiodide/iodide redox couples work efficiently in DSCs, they suffer from two major disadvantages: electrolytes that contain triiodide/iodide corrode electrical contacts made of silver (which reduces the op...

Hierarchical TiO(2) nanostructures would be desirable for preparing dye-sensitized solar cells because of their large amount of dye adsorption and superior light harvesting efficiency, as well as efficient charge separation and transport properties. In this study, rutile TiO(2) nano-branched arrays grown directly on transparent conductive glass (FTO) were prepared by a facile two-step wet chemi...

A new strategy for enhancing the efficiency of TiO2 dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by doping foreign ion into TiO2 lattice via sol-gel process is reported. DSSCs are based on a semiconductor (i.e., TiO2), formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte. In order to reach high conversion efficiency, it is important to increase the electron injection and optical absorption. One pro...

Vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (VASWCNTs) have been successfully transferred onto transparent conducting oxide glass and implemented as efficient low-cost, platinum-free counter electrode in sulfide -mediated dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), featuring notably improved electrocatalytic activity toward thiolate/disulfide redox shuttle over conventional Pt counter electrodes. ...

We report the synthesis and characterization of five new donor–π–spacer–acceptor dye molecules with a diphenylamine donor, fluorene–1,2,5-oxadiazole spacers and a range of acceptor/anchor groups (carboxylic acid 1, cyanoacrylic acid 2 and 3, alcohol 4 and cyano 5) to facilitate electron injection from the excited dye into the TiO2 photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Detailed photo...

Sensitized NiO based photocathode is a new field of investigation with increasing scientific interest in relation with the development of tandem dye-sensitized solar cells (photovoltaic) and dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthetic cells (solar fuel). We demonstrate herein that PbS quantum dots (QDs) represent promising inorganic sensitizers for NiO-based quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs)...