Review on development and recent progress of dye-sensitized solar cell technology

The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology, taken as a new generation of photovoltaics, is a flexible, efficient and economical way to directly convert solar energy into electricity. The significant recent development of the DSSC technology has demonstrated its promise for future renewable solar electricity generation. This paper reviews various areas in the DSSC technological development with an emphasis on the recent research progress. For the dye sensitization of wide-band gap semiconductors, the light absorption, electron generation, transport and recombination govern the energy conversion mechanisms and cell performance. The kinetics in the photochemistry of DSSC has been studied and the challenges in attaining higher energy conversion efficiency have been identified. Due to the limitation in the electron transport and poor absorption of low-energy photons, some investigators attempted to improve the electron transport and charge collection by using nanotubes, nanowires and nanorods instead of porous thin film while other researchers investigated nanocrystalline semiconductor electrodes with an aim to enhance the electron diffusion coefficient. Many research groups have made a lot of efforts to overcome problems related to the stability of liquid electrolyte and to develop better electrolytes, such as inorganic and organic hole conductors, ionic liquids, polymer and gel electrolytes. Regarding the counter electrode, the research focuses on enhancement of the catalytic performance. The development of novel photosensitizers in dye sensitization and band-gap engineering has further improved the performance of DSSC. Other prominent theoretical studies include theoretical modeling, characterization, assessment and design optimization. © 2008 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.