Engineering flexible dye-sensitized solar cells for portable electronics

With growing demand for economic, eco-friendly, easy-manufacturing and renewable portable power source, flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (FDSSCs) exhibit a promising potential in the field of portable power sources. However, FDSSCs surfer from low conversion efficiency and poor stability, which hinder their applications. In this work, we have summarized recent development and challenges according to respective functions of their vital components (substrate, semiconductor film, sensitizer, electrolytes and counter electrode) as well as their effects on photoelectric conversion efficiency. Meanwhile, typical fabrication approaches have been analyzed for increasing the incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE). The approaches in rigid dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) for improving performance are also introduced to provide the favorable direction for accelerating FDSSCs' application in field of potable power source.