Efficient and Stable Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on a Tetradentate Copper(II/I) Redox Mediator

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Abstract
The identification of an efficient and stable redox mediator is of paramount importance for commercialization of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Herein, we report a new class of copper complexes containing diamine-dipyridine tetradentate ligands (L1 = N,N′-dibenzyl-N,N′-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)ethylenediamine; L2 = N,N′-dibenzyl-N,N′-bis(6-methylpyridin-2-ylmethyl)ethylenediamine) as redox mediators in DSCs. Devices constructed with [Cu(L2)]2+/+ redox couple afford an impressive power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.2% measured under simulated one sun irradiation (100 mW cm–2, AM 1.5G), which is among the top efficiencies reported thus far for DSCs with copper complex-based redox mediators. Remarkably, the excellent air, photo, and electrochemical stability of the [Cu(L2)]2+/+ complexes renders an outstanding long-term stability of the whole DSC device, maintaining ~ 90% of the initial efficiency over 500 h under continuous full sun irradiation. This work unfolds a new platform for developing highly efficient and stable redox mediators for large-scale application of DSCs.
Funding Information
  • Energimyndigheten
  • Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (DUT17JC39)
  • Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse
  • Stiftelsen f?r?Strategisk Forskning
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (21606039, 21673028, 51661135021, 91233201)

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