We are glad to announce the Special Issue "Nanostructured Solar Cells", published in Nanomaterials. This issue consists of eight articles, two communications, and one review paper, covering major important aspects of nanostructured solar cells of varying types. From fundamental physicochemical investigations to technological advances, and from single junction solar cells (silicon solar cell, dy...

Acknowledgements In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…….oh wait that was too early . Where do I begin these acknowledgements? Who should I acknowledge? It's 1:57 a.m., I'm in a noffice with no room number, listening to Kanye West, and my mind is wrecked from writing this thesis. The truth is although I'm beaten and tired; the questions of " where do I begin these acknowledgeme...

Light scattering is a method that has been employed in dye-sensitized solar cells for optical absorption enhancement. In conventional dye-sensitized solar cells, large TiO(2) particles with sizes comparable to the wavelength of visible light are used as scatterers by either being mixed into the nanocrystalline film to generate light scattering or forming a scattering layer on the top of the nan...

Sensitized NiO based photocathode is a new field of investigation with increasing scientific interest in relation with the development of tandem dye-sensitized solar cells (photovoltaic) and dye-sensitized photoelectrosynthetic cells (solar fuel). We demonstrate herein that PbS quantum dots (QDs) represent promising inorganic sensitizers for NiO-based quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs)...

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...

Dye-sensitized solar cells are a promising alternative to traditional inorganic semiconductor-based solar cells. Here we report an open-circuit voltage of over 1,000 mV in mesoscopic dye-sensitized solar cells incorporating a molecularly engineered cobalt complex as redox mediator. Cobalt complexes have negligible absorption in the visible region of the solar spectrum, and their redox propertie...

Donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) porphyrin based photo-sensitizers are extensively utilized in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).