Sung-Hae Park (CE Ph.D.) and Jongchul Lim (CE Ph.D. candidate) under Prof. Taiho Park (CE) improved the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells by creating a sponge structure near the inner part of solar cells’s dye through the insertion of self-organizing material. 
Dye-sensitized solar cells convert solar energy to electricity using a particular dye like synthesis of plants. If the technology is commercialized, people will be able to get electricity by simply installing it to a car or window. But, this technology has a weakness. During the conversion to electricity, a material that stabilizes the dye evaporates. This makes the efficiency less than seven percent, the minimum requirement for commercialization.
It turns out that a sponge protects the dye from separation. The sponge absorbs liquid material and prevents water leak and volatilization. This increases the efficiency to nine percent, sufficient for commercialization. The original system suffered from instability at temperatures above 65, but the sponge also keeps the system stable at higher temperatures.
The technology was announced in Advanced Energy Materials.