Recovering degraded quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells by applying electrical pulses.

We discovered a method of applying a forward pulsed bias to recover the degraded quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Up to 30.7% of the power conversion efficiency (η) of a degraded poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) based DSSC was recovered by a double-pulse. The recovered η remained higher than that before the double-pulse treatment for at least 28 days. It is deduced that the blocking of ion-transport channels in the quasi-solid-state electrolyte causes degradation of the DSSCs. This study will shed light on the efficiency enhancement and long-term stability of quasi-solid-state DSSCs.