Development of photocathodes for incorporation into tandem dye sensitised solar cells

The widespread application of photovoltaics, directly converting of solar energy to electrical, has not been realised, in spite of being a favoured power source by many. In order to make them more economically viable new solar technologies are being developed, with an emphasis on low cost and simple production processes. The dye sensitised solar cell is part of this category, however the efficiency of this technology is relatively low. One approach to improve this efficiency is to create a tandem architecture, with two active layers (in this case a photoanode and photocathode). This concept was demonstrated a little over a decade ago, and to date the photocathode is the limiting element in the quest for a high efficiency tandem dye sensitised solar cell. This thesis aims to gain a better understanding into the photocathode, and to improve overall performance.