Journal
NATURE CHEMISTRY
Volume 3, Issue 3, Pages 211-215Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.966
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Funding
- Australian Research Council through the Australian Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia)
- Victorian State Government Department of Primary Industry (Victorian Organic Solar Cells Consortium)
- Monash University
- Discovery, Australian Research Fellowship
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Dye-sensitized solar cells based on iodide/triiodide (I-/I-3(-)) electrolytes are viable low-cost alternatives to conventional silicon solar cells. However, as well as providing record efficiencies of up to 12.0%, the use of I-/I-3(-) in such solar cells also brings about certain limitations that stem from its corrosive nature and complex two-electron redox chemistry. Alternative redox mediators have been investigated, but these generally fall well short of matching the performance of conventional I-/I-3(-) electrolytes. Here, we report energy conversion efficiencies of 7.5% (simulated sunlight, AM1.5, 1,000 W m(-2)) for dye-sensitized solar cells combining the archetypal ferrocene/ferrocenium (Fc/Fc(+)) single-electron redox couple with a novel metal-free organic donor-acceptor sensitizer (Carbz-PAHTDTT). These Fc/Fc(+)-based devices exceed the efficiency achieved for devices prepared using I-/I-3(-) electrolytes under comparable conditions, revealing the great potential of ferrocene-based electrolytes in future dye-sensitized solar cells applications. This improvement results from a more favourable matching of the redox potential of the ferrocene couple with that of the new donor-acceptor sensitizer.
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