Interfacial Engineering in Functional Materials for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

1 Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells: History, Components, Configuration, and Working Principle

S.N. Karthick¹, K.V. Hemalatha², Suresh Kannan Balasingam³, F. Manik Clinton⁴, S. Akshaya⁵, and Hee‐Je Kim⁶

¹ Electrochemical Materials and Devices Lab, Department of Chemistry, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

² Department of Chemistry, Coimbatore Institute of Technology (CIT), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

⁴ Electrochemical Materials and Devices Lab, Department of Chemistry, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

⁶ Electrochemical Materials and Devices Lab, Department of Chemistry, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

⁷ School of Electrical and Computer Science Engineering, Pusan National University (PNU), Gumjeong‐Ku, Jangjeong‐Dong, Busan, Republic of Korea

1.1 Introduction

The ever‐growing human population requires the consumption of energy in various forms, and therefore researchers in energy field focus on energy harvesting from various sources. The nonrenewable energy sources such as fossil fuels are running out, which cannot be replenished in our life time. The nonrenewable energy sources are carbon‐based fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas that emits greenhouse gases (for example carbon dioxide) that cause global warming, a serious threat to the ...