High Excitation Transfer Efficiency from Energy Relay Dyes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Hardin, Brian E.; Yum, Jun-Ho; Hoke, Eric T.; Jun, Young Chul; Péchy, Peter; Torres, Tomás; Brongersma, Mark L.; Nazeeruddin, Md. Khaja; Grätzel, Michael; McGehee, Michael D.

Type

Article

Authors

Hardin, Brian E.
Yum, Jun-Ho
Hoke, Eric T.
Jun, Young Chul
Péchy, Peter
Torres, Tomás
Brongersma, Mark L.
Nazeeruddin, Md. Khaja
Grätzel, Michael
McGehee, Michael D.

Date

2010-08-11

Permanent link to this record

http://hdl.handle.net/10754/598469

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Abstract

The energy relay dye, 4-(Dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(4- dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM), was used with a near-infrared sensitizing dye, TT1, to increase the overall power conversion efficiency of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) from 3.5% to 4.5%. The unattached DCM dyes exhibit an average excitation transfer efficiency (EÌ?TE) of 96% inside TT1-covered, mesostructured TiO2 films. Further performance increases were limited by the solubility of DCM in an acetonitrile based electrolyte. This demonstration shows that energy relay dyes can be efficiently implemented in optimized dye-sensitized solar cells, but also highlights the need to design highly soluble energy relay dyes with high molar extinction coefficients. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

Citation

Hardin BE, Yum J-H, Hoke ET, Jun YC, Péchy P, et al. (2010) High Excitation Transfer Efficiency from Energy Relay Dyes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Nano Lett 10: 3077–3083. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nl1016688.

Sponsors

B. E. Hardin would like to thank Pascal Comte for preparing the TiO2 films and BET measurements. J.-H. Yum thanks Dr. Shaik M. Zakeeruddin for preparing the electrolytes. This work was primarily supported by the Office of Naval Research Contract No. N00014-08-1-1163. M. McGehee acknowledges support from the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics through a grant from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and T. Torres acknowledges support from ESF-SOHYD Program, COST Action D35, and the EU Project ROBUST DSC, FP7-Energy-2007-1-RTD, No. 212792, MEC, Spain (CTQ2008-00418/BQU, CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 CDS 2007-00010, PLE2009-0070, PSE-120000-2009-008 FOTOMOL), and CAM (MADRISOLAR-2, S2009/PPQ/1533).