New understanding of fundamental photochemistry in dye solar cells

Numerous mixes of chemical compounds have traditionally been tried in the electrolytes of dye-sensitized solar cells to improve their efficiency. How these chemicals interact with each other and the photoelectrode has received surprisingly little attention and are not well understood. Here we report results from a systematic study of two I–/I3– electrolytes and their additives using infrared and Raman spectroscopy together with quantum chemical calculations. The identified interactions paint an intriguing new photochemical landscape of the function of the dye-sensitized solar cells. The results of the study were recently published in Muhammad Imran Asghar, Janne Halme, Sampo Kaukonen, Niko Humalamäki, Peter Lund, and Jouko Korppi-Tommola. Intriguing Photochemistry of the Additives in the Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. J. Phys. Chem C (2016). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b08235