Nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells.pdfVIP

LETTERS Nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells 1,2 1,2 1 1 MATT LAW *, LORI E. GREENE *, JUSTIN C. JOHNSON , RICHARD SAYKALLY AND PEIDONG YANG1,2† 1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA 2Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA *These authors contributed equally to this work. †e-mail: p_yang@ Published online: 15 May 2005; doi:10.1038/nmat1387 1 random walk through the fi lm. Drift transport, a vital mechanism in xcitonic solar cells —including organic, hybrid organic– inorganic and dye-sensitized cells (DSCs)—are promising most photovoltaic cells, is prevented in DSCs by ions in the electrolyte Edevices for inexpensive, large-scale solar energy conversion. that screen macroscopic electric fi elds and couple strongly with the h e DSC is currently the most eicient2 and stable3 excitonic moving electrons, effectively rendering them neutral carriers (that photocell. Central to this device is a thick nanoparticle i lm is, there is ambipolar diffusion)13. Under full sunlight, an average that provides a large surface area for the adsorption of light- injected electron may experience a million trapping events before harvesting molecules. However, nanoparticle DSCs rely on either percolating to the collecting electrode or recombinin