Dye-namic Improvement

摘要

In a dye-sensitized solar cell, a molecular dye injects a charge into a semiconductor upon light absorption, and then a charge acceptor on the other side of the circuit shuttles it back around. The most common implementation of the cell has employed a ruthenium complex as a dye and an equilibrating system of iodide and triiodide ions as the charge shuttle. Yella et al. (p. 629; see the Perspective by McGehee) now show that the combination of a zinc porphyrinderived dye and cobalt ion shuttle substantially boosts efficiency.