Enhancing the stability of porphyrin dye-sensitized solar cells by manipulation of electrolyte additives.

ChemSusChem

Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), 1015 Lausanne (Switzerland), Fax: (+41) 21-693-97-80.

Published: January 2015

The use of porphyrin-based photosensitizers with superior light-harvesting properties has enabled the power conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) to reach 13 % under full sun illumination. However, a major limitation of such devices corresponds to the volatility of the solvent used so far for the electrolyte, which prevents practical applications. In this work, we describe a porphyrin-ionic liquid DSC, which not only affords the highest efficiency reported to date, but is also stable for more than 300 h under continuous full sun illumination at 60 °C. Furthermore, we identify a previously unreported pathway for device degradation, and show that the addition of N-methylbenzimidazole and a thiocyanate salt to the electrolyte is critical to obtaining long-lived devices.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201403225DOI Listing

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