Novel highly asymmetric zinc tetraazaporphyrin (TAP) derivatives (Zn-tri-TAPNc and Zn-tri-PcNc) with one carboxyl and three tert-butyl peripheral substituent groups were synthesized. A highly asymmetric zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) derivative (Zn-tri-PcNc) has a benzo-annelated ring which contains tribenzonaphtho-condensed tetraazaporphyrin with the same peripheral substituents as Zn-tri-TAPNc. A...

Hard carbon spherule (HCS) has been investigated as a counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. The overall conversion efficiency of the cell reached 5.7%, which is comparable to 6.5% of the counter electrode of platinum-sputtered fluorine-doped tin oxide used in Grätzel-type solar cells under the same experimental condition. It is found that the photovoltaic performance was strongly af...

Dye-sensitized solar cells are currently under intense academic and industrial investigation, owing to their great potential to serve as a low-cost alternative to existing photovoltaic technologies. This paper puts forward a method, which adopts heterocyclic substituted triarylamine units as electronic donor moieties, to design triarylamine dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells. Three n...

Dye-sensitized solar cells with an energy storage function are demonstrated by modifying its counter electrode with a poly (vinylidene fluoride)/ZnO nanowire array composite. This simplex device could still function as an ordinary solar cell with a steady photocurrent output even after being fully charged. An energy storage density of 2.14 C g(-1) is achieved, while simultaneously a 3.70% photo...

A laser photochemical process is introduced to realize superhydrophobic conducting carbon coatings with broccoli-type hierarchical morphology for use as a metal-free counter electrode in a dye sensitized solar cell. The process involves pulsed excimer laser irradiation of a thin layer of liquid haloaromatic organic solvent o-dichlorobenzene (DCB). The coating reflects a carbon nanoparticle-self...

Owing to well-defined structural parameters and enhanced electronic properties, highly ordered TiO(2) nanotube arrays have been employed to substitute TiO(2) nanoparticles for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. To further improve the performance of dye-sensitized TiO(2) nanotube solar cells, efforts have been directed toward the optimization of TiO(2) photoanodes, dyes, electrolytes, and co...

A series of carbon nanohorns (CNHs) constituted by the aggregation of about 2000 individual conical graphene tubes (diameters from 2 nm to 5 nm and a length of 40-50 nm) that have been modified with dyes of two, three, or four terthienyl groups has been prepared by adsorbing the corresponding dye on the CNH. Persistent inks in o-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB) of these dye-CNH conjugates were obtained ...