Nanostructured functional materials for advanced three-dimensional (3D) solar cells

Advancements in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology are occurring at an ever-increasing rate, as the development of novel carbon-based materials, the increasing research into new 3D surface morphologies and cell design, and the focus on the development of new sensitizers and electrolytes have allowed many new possibilities for DSSCs. Solar cells that are three-dimensionally structured offer significant advantages over traditional crystalline / semi-crystalline panels in that they can convert incident photons that strike them at large incident angles, can be flexible / used in applications which require non-rigid materials, and can be substantially cheaper to produce than traditional panels, especially with the replacement of more expensive, traditional electrode materials by carbon materials in the working / counter electrode. The use of carefully selected and engineered sensitizers like quantum dots with these three-dimensionally structured solar cells have seen them achieve ever-increasing power conversion efficiencies, and it's likely that they will soon rival traditional crystalline / semi-crystalline panels for both mass power generation and use in more niche applications such as flexible photovoltaic textile fibers. This review covers DSSCs constructed with several different materials, and the advantages and disadvantages of a variety of cell designs.