Volume 30, No. 1
January 2005

Dye-Sensitized Solid–State Heterojunction Solar Cells
Michael Grätzel

Abstract
The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) provides a technically and economically viable alternative concept to present-day p–n junction photovoltaic devices. In contrast to conventional silicon systems, where the semiconductor assumes both the task of light absorption and charge carrier transport, these two functions are separated in DSSCs. The use of sensitizers having a broad absorption band in conjunction with wide–bandgap semiconductor films of mesoporous or nanocrystalline morphology permits harvesting a large fraction of sunlight. There are good prospects that these devices can attain the conversion efficiency of liquid–electrolyte–based dye–sensitized solar cells, which currently stands at 11%. In this article, we present the current state of the field, the realm of our review being restricted to the discussion of organic molecular hole conductors, which have demonstrated the best performance to date.

Keywords: dye-sensitized solar cells, mesoscopic junctions, solid–state heterojunctions.