Reliable evaluation of dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have attracted great interest as potential candidates of "low cost solar cells" in the solution of global energy demand. To accelerate the progress of DSCs, it is important to evaluate device performance with reliable measurements that will enable more effective comparison and application of new findings in materials and technologies by different research groups. In this perspective, we review existing measurement methods and summarize the appropriate techniques for the evaluation of DSCs based mainly on our experience, which helped us to obtain reliable results close to those certified by public test centres. The key factors in the measurements that correlate to device performance are discussed, including the calibration of the solar simulator using reference cells, the measurement time of the current-voltage characteristics and the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency, and the area for determination with a proper shading mask. We demonstrate the causes and solutions of measurement errors in the results of device performance, such as short circuit photocurrent density, open circuit voltage, fill factor, and energy conversion efficiency. Finally, a list of appropriate measurements for a more reliable evaluation of DSCs is proposed.