title: Dye-sensitized solar cells with 13% efficiency achieved through the molecular engineering of porphyrin sensitizers.
abstract: Dye-sensitized solar cells have gained widespread attention in recent years because of their low production costs, ease of fabrication and tunable optical properties, such as colour and transparency. Here, we report a molecularly engineered porphyrin dye, coded SM315, which features the prototypical structure of a donor-π-bridge-acceptor and both maximizes electrolyte compatibility and improves light-harvesting properties. Linear-response, time-dependent density functional theory was used to investigate the perturbations in the electronic structure that lead to improved light harvesting. Using SM315 with the cobalt(II/III) redox shuttle resulted in dye-sensitized solar cells that exhibit a high open-circuit voltage VOC of 0.91 V, short-circuit current density JSC of 18.1 mA cm(-2), fill factor of 0.78 and a power conversion efficiency of 13%.
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland [2].
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mathew
authors.affiliation: 1] Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland [2].
authors.forename: Aswani
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yella
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4963-2282
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Humphry-Baker
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry (LCBC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Basile F E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/000000021705473X
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Curchod
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry (LCBC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Negar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ashari-Astani
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry (LCBC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ivano
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tavernelli
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry (LCBC), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Rothlisberger
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Md Khaja
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nazeeruddin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces (LPI), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grätzel
mesh_terms: D008958:Models, Molecular; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011166:Porphyrins / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012993:Solar Energy
chemical_list: D011166:Porphyrins