Recent progress in dye sensitized solar cell materials and photo-supercapacitors: A review

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are an efficient and versatile method of transforming the clean and most plentiful energy resources available. DSSC is translucent to some extent and relatively inexpensive than the traditional solar cell. Thus, it may be a possible source of electricity for the future. But other things need to be focused on before it is considered a viable commercial product. The review discusses these facets and the numerous changes the DSSC has experienced in the recent years. Photoelectric conversion systems struggle to fulfil the specifications of constant power output owing to the erratic and unstable characteristics of the solar radiation. With the evolution of rechargeable electric energy storage systems (ESSs), the integration of a DSSC and ESSs has developed into a promising approach to solve this issue. Here, we describe the working principle, recent progress of DSSCs, including photoanodes, sensitizers, electrolytes, and counter electrodes, and the use of DSSCs in energy storage, targeting DSSC and supercapacitor (SC) integrated devices. The future prospects for highly effective, reliable DSSC and DSSC-SC development have also been highlighted.

Automated summary

Dye-sensitized solar cells are an efficient method of converting energy and have the potential to be a future energy source. Integration with rechargeable energy storage systems has addressed the issue of power output in photovoltaic conversion systems.