Engineering organic sensitizers for iodine-free dye-sensitized solar cells: red-shifted current response concomitant with attenuated charge recombination

With a new metal-free donor-acceptor photosensitizer featuring the 2,6-bis(thiophen-2-yl)-4,4-dihexyl-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b:3,4-b']dithiophene-conjugated spacer and the tris(1,10-phenanthroline)cobalt(II/III) redox shuttle, we present a highly efficient iodine-free dye-sensitized solar cell displaying a power conversion efficiency of 9.4% measured at 100 mW cm(-2) simulated AM1.5 conditions.