Abstract
As an important member of third generation solar cell, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have the advantages of being low cost, having an easy fabrication process, utilizing rich raw materials and a high-power conversion efficiency (PCE), prompting nearly three decades as a research hotspot. Recently, increasing the photoelectric conversion efficiency of DSSCs has proven troublesome. Sensitizers, as the most important part, are no longer limited to molecular engineering, and the regulation of dye aggregation has become a widely held concern, especially in liquid DSSCs. This review first presents the operational mechanism of liquid and solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells, including the influencing factors of various parameters on device efficiency. Secondly, the mechanism of dye aggregation was explained by molecular exciton theory, and the influence of various factors on dye aggregation was summarized. We focused on a review of several methods for regulating dye aggregation in liquid and solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells, and the advantages and disadvantages of these methods were analyzed. In addition, the important application of quantum computational chemistry in the study of dye aggregation was introduced. Finally, an outlook was proposed that utilizing the advantages of dye aggregation by combining molecular engineering with dye aggregation regulation is a research direction to improve the performance of liquid DSSCs in the future. For solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (ssDSSCs), the effects of solid electrolytes also need to be taken into account.
Highlights
The properties of a material depend on the physical and chemical properties of the elementary molecules that comprise it, and on the aggregation patterns of molecules to a large extent
The obtained power conversion efficiency (PCE) of n-dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has grown from 7% [6] to 13% [7] using I3 − /I− redox couple additive electrolyte, and the highest PCE of 14.3% was achieved in cobalt-mediated DSSCs [8]
The purpose of this review was to summarize the current progress of dye aggregation in DSSCs
Summary
The properties of a material depend on the physical and chemical properties of the elementary molecules that comprise it, and on the aggregation patterns of molecules to a large extent. In the field of photoelectric materials, with the discovery of aggregation-induced emission phenomenon [2], the research on organic molecular aggregation has once again set off a great upsurge. As a core member of the field of optoelectronics, the solar cell is an important way to solve the energy and environmental crisis by using green energy, especially organic solar cells (OSCs), which have variety materials, low energy consumption, and can be printed in large areas at low cost [3,4]. As the third generation of OSCs, DSSCs use low-cost metal oxide and photosensitive dyes as the main raw materials to convert solar energy into electricity by simulating the photosynthesis of Molecules 2020, 25, 4478; doi:10.3390/molecules25194478 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules
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