Spectral response of opal-based dye-sensitized solar cells

Herein we present an experimental study of the spectral dependence of the photogenerated current of opal-based solar cells. We analyze the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) for dye-sensitized solar cells in which colloidal crystals are introduced in different configurations. We prove that a dye-sensitized nanocrystalline titanium oxide electrode moulded in the shape of an inverse opal shows a decrease of efficiency for the spectral region in which a photonic stop band opens up. Contrarily, when a standard thin film of disordered titania nanocrystallites is coupled to an inverse opal, the mirror effect of the photonic crystal at band gap frequencies increases the light harvesting efficiency of the cell and thus the IPCE. This effect is further demonstrated by coupling an inverse opal multilayer to a homogeneous electrode, with two well-defined spectral ranges of increased photogenerated current being detected.