Estimating the Maximum Attainable Efficiency in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 13 - 19
• Main Author: Snaith, Henry J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY-VCH Verlag 08-01-2010; WILEY‐VCH Verlag
• Subjects: Dye-sensitized solar cells; Photovoltaics; Solar cell efficiency; Solar cells
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.200901476

For an ideal solar cell, a maximum solar‐to‐electrical power conversion efficiency of just over 30% is achievable by harvesting UV to near IR photons up to 1.1 eV. Dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are, however, not ideal. Here, the electrical and optical losses in the dye‐sensitized system are reviewed, and the main losses in potential from the conversion of an absorbed photon at the optical bandgap of the sensitizer to the open‐circuit voltage generated by the solar cell are specifically highlighted. In the first instance, the maximum power conversion efficiency attainable as a function of optical bandgap of the sensitizer and the “loss‐in‐potential” from the optical bandgap to the open‐circuit voltage is estimated. For the best performing DSCs with current technology, the loss‐in‐potential is ∼0.75 eV, which leads to a maximum power‐conversion efficiency of 13.4% with an optical bandgap of 1.48 eV (840 nm absorption onset). Means by which the loss‐in‐potential could be reduced to 0.4 eV are discussed; a maximum efficiency of 20.25% with an optical bandgap of 1.31 eV (940 nm) is possible if this is achieved.
For the current state‐of‐the‐art dye‐sensitized solar cell, the loss‐in‐potential from the optical bandgap to the open‐circuit voltage is 0.75 eV. This results in a maximum efficiency of 13.4% with an absorption onset at 840 nm. By reducing this loss‐in‐potential to 0.4 eV the efficiency will increase to 20.25% employing a sensitizer with an absorption onset at 940 nm.