Glass-encapsulated light harvesters: more efficient dye-sensitized solar cells by deposition of self-aligned, conformal, and self-limited silica layers.

A major loss mechanism in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) is recombination at the TiO(2)/electrolyte interface. Here we report a method to reduce greatly this loss mechanism. We deposit insulating and transparent silica (SiO(2)) onto the open areas of a nanoparticulate TiO(2) surface while avoiding any deposition of SiO(2) over or under the organic dye molecules. The SiO(2) coating covers the highly convoluted surface of the TiO(2) conformally and with a uniform thickness throughout the thousands of layers of nanoparticles. DSCs incorporating these selective and self-aligned SiO(2) layers achieved a 36% increase in relative efficiency versus control uncoated cells.