Patent ID: 7737356

Claim:
A photovoltaic cell for converting a light source into electricity, the cell comprising: (a) a housing for the photovoltaic cell, said housing including an at least partially transparent cell wall, said cell wall having an interior surface and an exterior surface; (b) an electrolyte, disposed within said cell wall, said electrolyte containing an iodine based redox species; (c) an at least partially transparent electrically conductive coating disposed on said interior surface of said cell wall, within the photovoltaic cell; (d) an anode disposed on said at least partially transparent electrically conductive coating, said anode including: (i) a porous film adapted to make intimate contact with said redox species, and (ii) a dye, absorbed on a surface of said porous film, said dye and said porous film adapted to convert photons to electrons; (e) a cathode disposed on an interior surface of said housing, said cathode disposed substantially opposite said anode; (f) at least one electrically-conductive structural component disposed at least partially within the photovoltaic cell, said structural component electrically contacting said anode and said at least partially transparent electrically conductive coating, and (g) a second electrically conductive coating including a binder and an electrically conductive filler, said second coating disposed and electrically communicating between said electrically-conductive structural component and said at least partially transparent electrically conductive coating, said electrically-conductive structural component configured to boost collection of a current generated by the cell, wherein said at least one electrically-conductive structural component includes at least one metallic wire, wherein said transparent conductive coating includes a tin-oxide based conductive coating, and wherein said binder contains at least one inorganic binder material including a glass.