Highly efficient solar cells using TiO(2) nanotube arrays sensitized with a donor-antenna dye.

Donor antenna dyes provide an exciting route to improving the efficiency of dye sensitized solar cells owing to their high molar extinction coefficients and the effective spatial separation of charges in the charge-separated state, which decelerates the recombination of photogenerated charges. Vertically oriented TiO(2) nanotube arrays provide an optimal material architecture for photoelectrochemical devices because of their large internal surface area, lower recombination losses, and vectorial charge transport along the nanotube axis. In this study, the results obtained by sensitizing TiO(2) nanotube arrays with the donor antenna dye Ru-TPA-NCS are presented.

Reducing charge recombination losses in solid state dye sensitized solar cells: the use of donor-acceptor sensitizer dyes.

Herein we report the application of supramolecular dyes to control charge recombination between photo-injected electrons and oxidized hole-transporting material, resulting in an enhancement in the performance of dye sensitized solar cell devices based upon such dyes.