Adaptive response by an electrolyte: resilience to electron losses in a dye-sensitized porous photoanode.

ABSTRACT: Photovoltage and photocurrents below theoretical limits in dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion systems are usually attributed to electron loss processes such as dye-electron and electrolyte-electron recombination reactions within the porous photoanode. Whether recombination is a major loss mechanism is examined here, using a multiscale reaction-diffusion computational model to evaluate system characteristics. The dye-sensitized solar cell with an I^-/I₃ ^- redox couple is chosen as a simple, representative model system because of the extensive information available for it. Two photoanode architectures with dye excitation frequencies spanning 1-25 s^-1 are examined, assuming two distinct recombination mechanisms. The simulatio

SUBMITTER: Houle FA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8098693 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature