Combining a Small Hole-Conductor Molecule for Efficient Dye Regeneration and a Hole-Conducting Polymer in a Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) an efficient transfer of holes from the oxidized dye to the contact is necessary, which in solid-state DSC is performed by hole-conductor molecules. In this report we use photoinduced absorption and transient absorption spectroscopy to show that a small hole-conducting molecule, tris­(<i>p</i>-anisyl)­amine, regenerates dye molecules in the pores of the dye-sensitized TiO₂ nanoparticle electrode efficiently even for thick (>5 μm) electrodes. For similar thicknesses we observe incomplete regeneration using a larger polymer hole-conductor. However, the performance of the solar cells with the small hole-conductor molecules is poor due to that inefficient hole conduction in these small molecules may limit the collection of the charges at the contacts. Polymer hole-conductors, which may have a good hole conductivity, also have a high molecular weight, which makes these polymers difficult to infiltrate into the smallest pores in the electrode. We show that a conducting polymer, P3HT, may be added to the small molecule hole-conductor, to enable better transport of the charges to the contact and to reduce recombination and therefore increase the photocurrent. This new device construction with a small molecule efficiently regenerating the dye molecules, and a polymer conducting the holes to the contact is therefore a promising pathway for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells