ARTIFICIAL PHOTOSYNTHESIS - EFFICIENT DYE-SENSITIZED PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS FOR DIRECT CONVERSION OF VISIBLE-LIGHT TO ELECTRICITY

Significant advances have been made in recent years on the design of d ye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells for the direct conversion of visible light to electricity. One approach extensively developed in La usanne involves textured, nanocrystalline TiO2 membrane films as the c harge separation/collection device and polypyridyl complexes of Ru as photosensitizers. Efficient solar cells have been made that give short -circuit photocurrents exceeding 17 mA/cm2, open-circuit photovoltage of 700 mV and sunlight to electrical conversion efficiencies of 10%. H erein the principles and recent advances in this area are reviewed.