Investigation of novel anthracene‐bridged carbazoles as sensitizers and Co‐sensitizers for dye‐sensitized solar cells

Novel anthracene‐bridged carbazole organic dyes (designated ML4 and ML5) were synthesized using the Suzuki coupling reaction. These dyes were designed to be donor‐π‐conjugation‐acceptor sensitizers for dye‐sensitized solar cells, where the carbazole moiety acts as the donor, the anthracene moiety provides the π‐conjugation, and the cyano acrylic acid acts as the acceptor. Solar cells were fabricated with ML4 and ML5 alone with low power conversion efficiencies, but they were also used as co‐sensitizers with N719, improving the efficiency of the dye‐sensitized solar cells produced by ~3% and ~10%, respectively. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TiO2 coated urchin-like SnO2 microspheres for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Urchin-like SnO2 microspheres have been grown for use as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells （DSSCs）. We observed that a thin layer coating of TiO2 on urchin-like SnO2 microsphere photoanodes greatly enhanced dye loading capability and light scattering ability, and achieved comparable solar cell per- formance even at half the thickness of a typical nanocrystalline TiO2 photoanode. In addition, this photoanode only required attaching -55% of the amount of dye for efficient light harvesting compared to one based on nanocrystalline TiO2. Longer decay of transient photovoltage and higher charge recombination resistance evidenced from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of the devices based on TiO2 coated urchin-like SnO2 revealed slower recombination rates of electrons as a result of the thin blocking layer of TiO2 coated on urchin- like SnO2. TiO2 coated urchin-like SnO2 showed the highest value （76.1 ms） of electron lifetime （＇r） compared to 2.4 ms for bare urchin-like SnO2 and 14.9 ms for nanocrystalline TiO2. TiO2 coated SnO2 showed greatly enhanced open circuit voltage （Voc）, short-circuit current density （Jsc） and fill factor （FF） leading to a four-fold increase in efficiency increase compared to bare SnO2. Although TiO2 coated urchin-like SnO2 showed slightly lower cell efficiency than nanocrystalline TiO2, it only used a half thickness of photoanode and saved -45% of the amount of dye for efficient light harvesting compared to normal nanocrystalline TiO2.     

Tuning Hole Transport Layer Using Urea for High‐Performance Perovskite Solar Cells

Interface engineering is critical to the development of highly efficient perovskite solar cells. Here, urea treatment of hole transport layer (e.g., poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)) is reported to effectively tune its morphology, conductivity, and work function for improving the efficiency and stability of inverted MAPbI₃ perovskite solar cells (PSCs). This treatment has significantly increased MAPbI₃ photovoltaic performance to 18.8% for the urea treated PEDOT:PSS PSCs from 14.4% for pristine PEDOT:PSS devices. The use of urea controls phase separation between PEDOT and PSS segments, leading to the formation of a unique fiber‐shaped PEDOT:PSS film morphology with well‐organized charge transport pathways for improved conductivity from 0.2 S cm^?1 for pristine PEDOT:PSS to 12.75 S cm^?1 for 5 wt% urea treated PEDOT:PSS. The urea‐treatment also addresses a general challenge associated with the acidic nature of PEDOT:PSS, leading to a much improved ambient stability of PSCs. In addition, the device hysteresis is significantly minimized by optimizing the urea content in the treatment.