Tuning chemistry of CuSCN to enhance the performance of TiO2/N719/CuSCN all-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell

Abstract

CuSCN with enhanced p-type conductivity was prepared by replacing some of the cuprous sites by triethylamine coordinated Cu(I) with concomitant (SCN)(2) doping to introduce more holes. A compound Cu(5)[(C(2)H(5))(3)N](3)(SCN)(11) was isolated and well characterized. A 41% enhancement of energy conversion efficiency of the TiO(2)/N719/modified CuSCN cell from the best reported value and more than a factor of ten from bare CuSCN was achieved.