Issue 7, 2018

Comprehensive control of voltage loss enables 11.7% efficient solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

The relatively large voltage loss (Vloss) in excitonic type solar cells severely limits their power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). Here, we report a comprehensive control of Vloss through efficacious engineering of the sensitizer and redox mediator, making a breakthrough in the PCE of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The targeted down-regulation of Vloss is successfully realized by three valid channels: (i) reducing the driving force of electron injection through dye molecular engineering, (ii) decreasing the dye regeneration overpotential through redox mediator engineering, and (iii) suppressing interfacial electron recombination. Significantly, the “trade-off” effect between the dye optical band gap and the open-circuit voltage (VOC) is minimized to a great extent, achieving a distinct enhancement in photovoltaic performance (PCE > 11.5% with VOC up to 1.1 V) for liquid junction cells. The solidification of the best-performing device leads to a PCE of 11.7%, which is so far the highest efficiency obtained for solid-state DSSCs. Our work inspires further development in highly efficient excitonic solar cells by comprehensive control of Vloss.

Graphical abstract: Comprehensive control of voltage loss enables 11.7% efficient solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Cig 2018
Accepted
16 Agd 2018
First published
17 Agd 2018

Energy Environ. Sci., 2018,11, 1779-1787

Comprehensive control of voltage loss enables 11.7% efficient solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

W. Zhang, Y. Wu, H. W. Bahng, Y. Cao, C. Yi, Y. Saygili, J. Luo, Y. Liu, L. Kavan, Jacques-E. Moser, A. Hagfeldt, H. Tian, S. M. Zakeeruddin, W. Zhu and M. Grätzel, Energy Environ. Sci., 2018, 11, 1779 DOI: 10.1039/C8EE00661J

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