Metal‐Free Organic Dyes for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells: From Structure: Property Relationships to Design Rules

TLDR

Metal‑free organic dyes have recently enabled low‑cost, high‑efficiency dye‑sensitized solar cells, with established design strategies improving performance. This review seeks to derive structure–property–efficiency correlations to guide the design of highly efficient metal‑free organic dyes for DSSCs. The review examines design principles, electrolyte effects, cosensitization, inverted dyes, and structure–property correlations to enhance DSSC performance.

Abstract

Abstract Works without ruthenium as well : Dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) incorporating metal‐free organic dyes have been considerably improved in recent years. Various design strategies have been established and are employed successfully in the synthesis of novel sensitizers. In this Review, structure–property–efficiency correlations are deduced from a vast number of dyes, which should help to design new and highly efficient sensitizers. magnified image Dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have attracted considerable attention in recent years as they offer the possibility of low‐cost conversion of photovoltaic energy. This Review focuses on recent advances in molecular design and technological aspects of metal‐free organic dyes for applications in dye‐sensitized solar cells. Special attention has been paid to the design principles of these dyes and on the effect of various electrolyte systems. Cosensitization, an emerging technique to extend the absorption range, is also discussed as a way to improve the performance of the device. In addition, we report on inverted dyes for photocathodes, which constitutes a relatively new approach for the production of tandem cells. Special consideration has been paid to the correlation between the molecular structure and physical properties to their performance in DSSCs.