Enhanced Chemical Stability of ZnO Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Ru Dyes Containing Limited Acidic Anchor Group

Abstract

Two new Ruthenium-based dyes with carbazole groups (Ru-DiCz) or triphenyl amine groups (Ru-DiTPA) as donor moieties of a ligand were studied for ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells. Strong electron-rich donor moieties in both dyes induced a high molar extinction coefficient, thereby enhancing the overall power conversion efficiency through high J_SC value. With limited acidic carboxyl anchor groups on the new Ru-dyes, the solar cells showed superior stability without aggregation of ZnO nanoparticles for a long-term immersion compared with a reference N3 sensitizer.

Keywords:

• Dye Sensitized Solar Cell
• Ruthenium complex
• Chemical stability
• ZnO electrode

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) through the Active Polymer Center for Pattern Integration (No. 2007-0056091). We also acknowledge the financial support from the Chung-Ang University (Research Grants in 2013).