Dye sensitized solar cells (or DSSC) are one of the earliest varieties of non-p-n junction solar cells developed. They have also become one of the most publicized and researched in the past twenty years.
The system is based on complex surface interactions between a mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin film, a light-absorbing organometallic dye, and a surrounding electrolyte material.
The dye absorbs incident photons and uses that energy to make electrochemical charge carriers (e.g.: electrons and holes). The titanium dioxide and the electrolyte then selectively separate the electrochemical charge carriers, and these carriers diffuse off to the positive and negative electrical contacts.
One of the most important contributions of DSSC to the field of photovoltaics was to raise a simple question. Do you need a p-n junction, and the electrostatic field that forms as a result of a p-n junction, to separate charge carriers? As it turns out: no, you don't.
Ok, if you don't need an electrostatic field to separate charge carriers, then how does the device work? The results of the dye sensitized cell raised this new question. Essentially, the data gathered from DSSCs opened up many fundamental questions as to the general science of a photovoltaic device, and a lot of very interesting research is being pursued in this vein now.
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