Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) hold promise as a low-cost alternative energy technology, but they have been limited by efficiencies well below their potential. Now, scientists have built a DSC with the highest efficiency yet reported, and they did it without ruthenium — an expensive dye that has in the past been used to improve the efficiency of DSCs. The scientists, led by Michael Gratzel, a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federate de Lausanne, achieved the efficiency boost by replacing the iodide-triiodide ion couple that is typically used as the redox mediator in DSCs with a cobalt-based complex. In making this change, they achieved a power-conversion efficiency of 12.3%. This compares to the world record in DSC efficiency of 11.1%.
展开▼
