Improvement of thiolate/disulfide mediated dye-sensitized solar cells through supramolecular lithium cation assembling of crown ether

A supramolecular lithium cation assemblies of crown ether, [Li 12-crown-4](+), has been used to replace conventional tetraalkylammonium counterion in thiolate/disulfide (ET(-)/BET) mediated dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), which exhibit high stability and efficiency of 6.61% under 100 mW·cm(-2) simulated sunlight illumination.