Performance enhancement by blending merocyanine photosensitizer in TiO2/polythiophen solid-state solar cells

When the photosensitizing 3-ethyl-5-[3-ethyl-5-[2-(3-ethyl-2(3H)-benzothiazolylidene)ethylidene]-4-oxo-2-thiazolidinylidene]-2-thioxo-4-thiazolidinone (NK2097) was blended into the regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT), the performance of the TiO2/P3HT + NK2097 sandwich-type solar cell was remarkably improved, resulting in 0.85% of energy conversion yield under the illumination of simulated sunlight with 100 mW/cm(2) intensity.