MATERIALS FOR SEMICONDUCTOR-SENSITIZED NANOPOROUS SOLAR CELLS.

Computer Engineering electronics Engineering Civil Engineering

Solar cells based on light absorption in an ultra-thin absorber (molecular dye in the dyesensitized cell; semiconductor in a semiconductor-sensitized cell) deposited onto a nanoporous substrate are one of the so-called third-generation forms of solar cells.In the semiconductor-sensitized solar cell, the absorber is deposited on a nanoporous oxide (usually TiO2 or ZnO) which collects photogenerated electrons from the illuminated absorber and a third phase, to remove photogenerated holes, is infiltrated into the porous structure. Because of the nanoporous structure (high surface area), a locally very thin layer of absorber (that itself only absorbs a small amount of light) results in an overall large thickness of absorber (needed to absorb all the light). At the same time, the locally very thin layer means that photogenerated electrons and holes are together in the absorber for a very short time before being removed and therefore there is less chance of them recombining (meaning loss in efficiency) in the absorber. The specific papers on these cells treat various aspects of the materials used for these cells and the cells themselves. loading..