Abstract
The nano-structured dye-sensitized solar cell (DNSC) is considered as a promising technology
having the potential to significantly decrease the costs of solar energy. The breakthrough was achieved in
1991 with the demonstration of a DNSC system reaching more than 7% efficiency and after a decade of
intense research the commercialization is in reach. Besides efficiency, stability is equally important for the
step from research to the market. Therefore, the stability of such devices has been under close investigation
since the DNSC was presented. In this contribution we summarize the literature about device testing and
the attempts to understand the degradation mechanisms. Solar cells developed for energy production are
discussed as well as alternative systems for low power applications, e.g., DNSCs on plastic substrates. The
components (substrate, nano-structured