Toward Eco-Friendly Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs): Natural Dyes and Aqueous Electrolytes

Ji-Hye Kim, Dong-Hyuk Kim, Ju-Hee So and Hyung-Jun Koo
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Ji-Hye Kim: Department of New Energy Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Korea
Dong-Hyuk Kim: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Korea
Ju-Hee So: Material & Component Convergence R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Ansan 15588, Korea
Hyung-Jun Koo: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Korea

Energies, 2021, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Due to their low cost, facile fabrication, and high-power conversion efficiency (PCE), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted much attention. Ruthenium (Ru) complex dyes and organic solvent-based electrolytes are typically used in high-efficiency DSSCs. However, Ru dyes are expensive and require a complex synthesis process. Organic solvents are toxic, environmentally hazardous, and explosive, and can cause leakage problems due to their low surface tension. This review summarizes and discusses previous works to replace them with natural dyes and water-based electrolytes to fabricate low-cost, safe, biocompatible, and environmentally friendly DSSCs. Although the performance of “eco-friendly DSSCs” remains less than 1%, continuous efforts to improve the PCE can accelerate the development of more practical devices, such as designing novel redox couples and photosensitizers, interfacial engineering of photoanodes and electrolytes, and biomimetic approaches inspired by natural systems.

Keywords: dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs); natural dye; aqueous electrolyte; eco-friendly DSSCs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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