DDQ as an effective p-type dopant for the hole-transport material X1 and its application in stable solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

X1 (MeO-TPD) is an inexpensive and easily synthesized pi-conjugated molecule that has been used as a hole-transport material (HTM) in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (ssDSSCs), achieving relatively high efficiency. In this paper, we characterize the physicochemical properties of 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ) and show that it is a promising p-dopant in a spin-coating solution with X1 as the HTM. The doped ssDSSCs showed an increase in short-circuit current density from 5.38 mA cm(-2) to 7.39 mA cm(-2), and their overall power conversion efficiency increased from 2.9% to 4.3%. Also, ssDSSCs with DDQ-doped X1 were more stable than the undoped samples, demonstrating that DDQ can act as a p-type dopant in X1 as an HTM for highly efficient, stable ssDSSCs. (c) 2017 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.