Performance improvement of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and amphiphilic sensitizing dye

Solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells were fabricated using photoelectrochemically polymerized poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) as the hole transport layer. The performance was improved when an amphiphilic ruthenium dye with long alkyl chain, Z907 [cis-RuLL'(SCN)(2) (L=4,4'-dicarboxylic acid-2,2'-bipyridine, L'=4,4'-dinonyl-2,2'-bipyridine)], and the mesoporous nanocrystalline TiO2 film anode treated with Al((OBu)-Bu-i)(3) were used as a sensitizing dye and an effective photoanode, respectively. The cell, TiO2/Al/Z907/PEDOT, delivered the largely improved short-circuit photocurrent density of 3.2 mA cm(-2), open-circuit voltage of similar to0.7 V, and fill factor of 0.58, and the resulting conversion efficiency of the cell was achieved, 1.26%. Both the employment of the amphiphilic ruthenium dye and Al((OBu)-Bu-i)(3)-derived substrates into the cell seemed to suppress the charge recombination at the interfaces of conducting glass/PEDOT and TiO2/PEDOT, resulting, in high conversion efficiency of the cell. (C) 2004 The Electrochemical Society.