Executive Summary : | The world energy consumption estimated as 16TW is expected to raise approximately 40 – 60 % by 2030 and so a global movement towards the generation of energy in a sustainable way is underway. Sustainable energy production through photovoltaic (PV) cells that utilize solar radiation is gaining importance as it is one of the vital renewable energy source that can meet the long-term worldwide energy demand. Among the available various PV cells, attention has been paid more on the development of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) due to their favorable kinetics and ability to work even at low intensity which makes them suitable for indoor applications. However the solar energy absorbed by these sensitized solar cells is restricted to visible range and nearly one half of the whole solar spectrum in the near-infrared region is being wasted. This imposes a serious limitation of energy conversion efficiency of a single junction solar cell to the Shockley-Queisser limit of 31%. In recent years great efforts are being made to break this barrier by making attempts to harvest the near infra-red (NIR) light through upconversion process. Introduction of upconverter layer made of luminescent materials in DSSC could absorb two or more low energy photon in NIR region and emit the higher energy photon in visible region leading to broadband energy harvesting. Impressed by these facts, this proposal aims to develop a hybrid third-generation solar cells commonly called as upconverter driven DSSC that can reward efficient photoelectric response and better conversion efficiency. The challenges imposed in the practical realization of this advanced sustainable energy device can be addressed through the design of this proposed solar cell consisting of, (i) photo electrodes made of TiO₂ nanorods that can avail channelized electron transport, (ii) counter electrodes made of MoS₂ nanorods for realizing platinum free cost-effective solar cells, (iii) upconverter layers made of rare earth and Group I metal co-doped lanthanides for broadband dye-sensitized upconversion of NIR light and (iv) sensitizers made of conventional ruthenium dye and bio-inspired bacteriorhodopsin for effective visible light absorption. Hence the present research proposal will be focused on the fabrication of upconverter driven DSSCs that can avail efficient broadband green energy harvesting. |