CuCrO 2 has been investigated as an alternative to conventionally used NiO in p-type dye sensitized solar cells (p-DSCs) using I − /I 3 − -and [Co(en) 3 ] 2+/3+ -based redox mediators. The favorable valence band edge position of CuCrO 2 affords open circuit voltages as high as 734 mV when [Co(en) 3 ] 2+/3+ is deployed as redox mediator. This is the highest reported open circuit voltage for any p-DSC to date, introducing mesoporous CuCrO 2 electrodes as a promising alternative to traditional NiO.
Sensing the sun: Incorporation of a cyanomethyl benzoic acid electron acceptor into donor-π-acceptor sensitizers for dye-sensitized-solar cell is shown to lead to devices with improved conversion efficiency when compared with more widely used cyanoacetic acid acceptor.
The abundance and low toxicity of manganese have led us to explore the application of manganese complexes as redox mediators for dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs), a promising solar energy conversion technology which mimics some of the key processes in photosynthesis during its operation. In this paper, we report the development of a DSC electrolyte based on the tris(acetylacetonato)manganese(iii)/(iv), [Mn(acac)3](0/1+), redox couple. PEDOT-coated FTO glass was used as a counter electrode instead of the conventionally used platinum. The influence of a number of device parameters on the DSC performance was studied, including the concentration of the reduced and oxidized mediator species, the concentration of specific additives (4-tert-butylpyridine, lithium tetrafluoroborate, and chenodeoxycholic acid) and the thickness of the TiO2 working electrode. These studies were carried out with a new donor-π-acceptor sensitizer K4. Maximum energy conversion efficiencies of 3.8% at simulated one Sun irradiation (AM 1.5 G; 1000 W m(-2)) with an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 765 mV, a short-circuit current (JSC) of 7.8 mA cm(-2) and a fill factor (FF) of 0.72 were obtained. Application of the commercially available MK2 and N719 sensitizers resulted in an energy conversion efficiency of 4.4% with a VOC of 733 mV and a JSC of 8.6 mA cm(-2) for MK2 and a VOC of 771 mV and a JSC of 7.9 mA cm(-2) for N719. Both dyes exhibit higher incident photon to current conversion efficiencies (IPCEs) than K4.
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