Dyesol achieves record DSC efficiency of 15%

Dyesol, an Australian-listed solar cell company, has achieved a new world record efficiency of 15% for a solid-state dye solar cell (DSC).

“The recent breakthroughs in solid-state dye solar cell technology are truly astonishing. This is the dawn of a new age in efficient and affordable renewable energy,” said Dyesol Executive Chairman Richard Caldwell.

A research paper, published in scientific journal Nature by a team led by the ‘Father of DSC’ Professor Michael Graetzel, describes a new deposition process to create the light harvesting pigment for solid-state dye solar cells. Cells fabricated using this technique and incorporating Dyesol’s key DSC input materials and specially formulated 18NR-T Titania Paste have established efficiency of 15%.

“Our research work on solid-state dye sensitised solar cells is now achieving efficiencies exceeding 15% and our cells have been externally validated with a world record of 14.1%. At these efficiencies the technology is extremely competitive with conventional solar cells particularly when you consider dye sensitised solar cells do not need perfect sunlight conditions to effectively produce energy.  In the task of scale up from small laboratory sized cells to industrial scale, we are particularly encouraged by the program from Dyesol to allow commercial deployment of this game-changing technology in the shortest possible time frame,” said Professor Graetzel.

“This independently certified efficiency result eclipses all previous certified public records and is now the official world record for dye solar cell technology performance. The DSC world record efficiency result of 14.1% catapults the energy output of DSC devices to the next level,” according to the company. This means that the cumulative seasonal energy output from DSC over the course of a cloudy autumn, dreary winter, and whole year is much greater.