Mechanistic insights into the effect of newly developed dye anchor counter electrode in enhancing the efficiency of dye sensitized solar cells

Constrained absorption nature of the dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is one of the key limitations in attaining the optimum efficiency. In this report, we have adopted the newly developed DACE technique to achieve panchromatic absorption nature in solid state DSSC. Herein, TVP208 and DPP13 have been synthesized and explored for the dye anchor counter electrode (DACE) based DSSC, and the effect of DACE electrodes have been studied systematically by comparing with the traditional SS-DSSC devices. TVP208 and DPP13 dyes have shown complementary absorption nature, a prerequisite for obtaining panchromatic absorption in DACE. The SS-DSSC device with TVP208 sensitized working electrode and DPP13 based DACE electrode (SS-Device 2) has shown higher efficiency of 5.08 %. The improved efficiency of DACE based SS-DSSC devices than the traditional SSDSSC devices could be attributed to the enhanced light harvesting property achieved by employing DACE electrode. The improved IPCE for the DACE based devices signify the contribution of DACE electrode in increasing the device efficiency.

Automated summary

In this study, the newly developed DACE technique was used to achieve panchromatic absorption in solid state DSSC. The TVP208 sensitized working electrode and DPP13 based DACE electrode showed complementary absorption nature, leading to an efficiency of 5.08% in the SS-DSSC device. The improved efficiency of DACE based devices can be attributed to the enhanced light harvesting property.