Iodine/iodide-free redox shuttles for liquid electrolyte-based dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells have attracted intense academic interest over the past two decades. For a long time, the development of new redox systems has fallen far behind that of the sensitizing dyes and other materials. However, the field has received renewed attention recently. In particular, in 2011, the Grätzel group published a record DSC efficiency of 12.3% by using a new Co-complex-based electrolyte. In this review, we will provide an overview of iodine/iodide-free redox systems for liquid electrolytes, and reveal that the design of an efficient redox system should combine with appropriate sensitizing dyes which is the pivotal challenge for highly efficient DSCs.