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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Recent Advancements, Research Trends, and Perspectives
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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Recent Advancements, Research Trends, and Perspectives

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A2: Solar Energy and Photovoltaic Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 13551

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yasemin Saygili

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Energy Engineering, Ankara University, 50. Yıl Kampüsü, Bahçelievler Mh., Gölbaşı, Ankara 06830, Turkey
Interests: dye-sensitized solar cells; electrolytes; copper redox mediators; indoor DSSCs
Dr. Audun Formo Buene

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Høgskoleringen 7a, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
Interests: dye-sensitized solar cells; organic chemistry; dye aggregation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As we all know, dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) technology has gained wide popularity among scientists over the last three decades. By promising low energy payback times and environmentally friendly, cost-effective processing options, these systems are considered strong candidates to become widespread power supply devices. However, there are several challenging aspects to be considered to realize commercial readiness for the DSC technology which stimulates further research. Henceforth, we would like to invite you to submit your work to this Special Issue on “Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Recent Advancements, Research Trends, and Perspectives”.

Apart from the achievements obtained so far, in recent years, DSCs have been shown to reach remarkable power conversion efficiencies under ambient lighting and artificial light sources (i.e., fluorescent tubes and LEDs). It is also anticipated that under indoor illumination (200–1000 lux), the factors affecting the stability of the devices will be less detrimental in comparison to stress factors observed under the standard air mass 1.5 global 100 mWcm-2 solar radiation. We believe that high-efficiency values together with reduced stability problems can provide a foundation for the industrialization of DSC technology to power low capacity electronics (portable devices, sensors, IoT-related appliances, etc.), and research motivations will be influenced accordingly.

This Special Issue aims to gather the most recent research progress on DSSCs. Component development and integration (dye, electrolyte, counter electrodes, etc.), cell/module fabrication and characterization techniques, and stability studies are among the suitable topics targeted for this issue. We hope to receive your original research articles for this Special Issue.

Dr. Yasemin Saygili
Dr. Audun Formo Buene
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Dye-sensitized solar cells
  • Artificial photosynthesis
  • Dyes
  • Electrolytes
  • Counter electrodes
  • Indoor DSSCs

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3619 KiB  
Article
Fundamental Understanding of Dye Coverage and Performance in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Using Copper Electrolyte
by Sourava Chandra Pradhan, Jayadev Velore, Sruthi Meledath Meethal and Suraj Soman
Energies 2023, 16(19), 6913; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16196913 - 30 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1430
Abstract
Dyes have played a pivotal role in the advancement of modern dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), as they not only facilitate light harvesting, but also serve as blocking layers to impede recombination. In this study, we conducted a systematic investigation to elucidate the influence [...] Read more.
Dyes have played a pivotal role in the advancement of modern dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), as they not only facilitate light harvesting, but also serve as blocking layers to impede recombination. In this study, we conducted a systematic investigation to elucidate the influence of dye coverage on the photovoltaic parameters of copper-electrolyte-based DSCs by precisely controlling the dye coverage on the TiO2 substrate using D35 organic dye solutions with varying concentrations. The dye loading increased proportionally with the increase in dye concentrations until it reached saturation at a concentration of 0.2 mM. However, an optimal dye concentration of 0.1 mM was determined in terms of achieving the highest photovoltaic performance, under both outdoor and indoor light conditions. Notably, a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.50 ± 0.25% under outdoor illumination (100 mW/cm2) and 10.48 ± 0.30% under indoor light (1000 lux, WW CFL) was attained using a 0.1 mM D35 dye concentration. Additionally, the dark current and ideality factor (m) were found to be minimized at the 0.1 mM dye concentration. Furthermore, the ideality factor (m) exhibited disparities between indoor and outdoor light conditions. The lifetime obtained from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements correlated well with the ideality factor (m) and dark current. Notably, electron injection, dye regeneration, charge collection, and ion diffusion were observed to be independent of the dye coverage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Recent Advancements, Research Trends, and Perspectives)
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35 pages, 7857 KiB  
Article
Low-Temperature Fabrication of Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Influence of Electrolyte Solution on Performance under Solar and Indoor Illumination
by Roberto Avilés-Betanzos, Gerko Oskam and Dena Pourjafari
Energies 2023, 16(15), 5617; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16155617 - 26 Jul 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2108
Abstract
Flexible photovoltaics is an attractive technology for product-integrated energy supply under both outdoor and interior conditions. In particular, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on flexible plastic conductive substrates provide ample opportunities for unique applications; however, they prevent the use of high-temperature processing steps [...] Read more.
Flexible photovoltaics is an attractive technology for product-integrated energy supply under both outdoor and interior conditions. In particular, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on flexible plastic conductive substrates provide ample opportunities for unique applications; however, they prevent the use of high-temperature processing steps usually applied in the fabrication of the solar cell. In the first part of this paper, we present an overview of a careful selection of the most relevant work in the field of flexible DSSCs (F-DSSCs), ranging from pioneering methodsto the most cutting-edge techniques. Key elements and critical considerations for the design of an efficient F-DSSC are also provided. In the second part, we report the fabrication of DSSCs on both rigid and flexible plastic substrates using low-temperature processing. Three different I−/I3− electrolyte configurations were tested. Rigid and F-DSSC showed 2.62% and 1.00% efficiency under 1 sun and an output power of 8.60 and 4.00 μW/cm−2 under low-light conditions, respectively. In this work, we report a novel solvent mixture that shows a significant enhancement of the performance of the low-temperature processed configuration, without adding steps in the fabrication process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Recent Advancements, Research Trends, and Perspectives)
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13 pages, 2889 KiB  
Article
Influence of Cr Doping on Structural, Optical, and Photovoltaic Properties of BiFeO3 Synthesized by Sol-Gel Method
by José Tiburcio, Elisban Sacari, Jesús Chacaltana, Jesús Medina, Francisco Gamarra, Carlos Polo, Efracio Mamani and Alberto Quispe
Energies 2023, 16(2), 786; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16020786 - 10 Jan 2023
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3213
Abstract
In this work, pure BiFeO3 and samples doped with different concentrations of chromium were synthesized to improve the optical properties and efficiency of solar cells based on BiFeO3. The sol-gel method was used for synthesis due to its ability to [...] Read more.
In this work, pure BiFeO3 and samples doped with different concentrations of chromium were synthesized to improve the optical properties and efficiency of solar cells based on BiFeO3. The sol-gel method was used for synthesis due to its ability to produce nanostructured materials with high purity and good homogeneity, as well as the possibility of controlling the size and shape of the resulting particles. The samples were characterized by different analytical techniques. Thermal analysis results indicate that the dopant increases the weight loss of the sample from 61 to 81%, with an increase in the exothermal in the nucleation and crystallization temperature range. The X-ray diffraction patterns and UV-visible spectra show a dependence of the crystallite size and bandgap with respect to the amount of Cr dopant, decreasing from 168 to 73 nm and from 2.14 to 1.92 eV, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy images display a decreasing grain size as a result of an increasing amount of dopant. The I-V analysis results show a 1% Cr-doped BiFeO3 photovoltaic device exhibits enhanced photovoltaic performance with higher photocurrent and 4.17 times greater energy conversion efficiency compared with a pure BiFeO3 photovoltaic device. For their behavior, Cr-doped BiFeO3-based photoelectrodes are very promising materials for photovoltaic devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Recent Advancements, Research Trends, and Perspectives)
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Review

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18 pages, 2731 KiB  
Review
Toward Eco-Friendly Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs): Natural Dyes and Aqueous Electrolytes
by Ji-Hye Kim, Dong-Hyuk Kim, Ju-Hee So and Hyung-Jun Koo
Energies 2022, 15(1), 219; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15010219 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 52 | Viewed by 5599
Abstract
Due to their low cost, facile fabrication, and high-power conversion efficiency (PCE), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted much attention. Ruthenium (Ru) complex dyes and organic solvent-based electrolytes are typically used in high-efficiency DSSCs. However, Ru dyes are expensive and require a complex [...] Read more.
Due to their low cost, facile fabrication, and high-power conversion efficiency (PCE), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted much attention. Ruthenium (Ru) complex dyes and organic solvent-based electrolytes are typically used in high-efficiency DSSCs. However, Ru dyes are expensive and require a complex synthesis process. Organic solvents are toxic, environmentally hazardous, and explosive, and can cause leakage problems due to their low surface tension. This review summarizes and discusses previous works to replace them with natural dyes and water-based electrolytes to fabricate low-cost, safe, biocompatible, and environmentally friendly DSSCs. Although the performance of “eco-friendly DSSCs” remains less than 1%, continuous efforts to improve the PCE can accelerate the development of more practical devices, such as designing novel redox couples and photosensitizers, interfacial engineering of photoanodes and electrolytes, and biomimetic approaches inspired by natural systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Recent Advancements, Research Trends, and Perspectives)
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