The document describes the components and functioning of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). It lists the typical layers of a DSSC as glass, transparent conducting oxide, TiO2 nanoparticles coated with ruthenium-based dyes, electrolyte, and a counter electrode. The TiO2 provides a large surface area for dye molecules to absorb sunlight. Examples of conducting transparent electrodes are sol-gel processed ZnO and SnO2:F. DSSCs have advantages over silicon solar cells such as lower cost, greater stability, and the ability to achieve efficiencies up to 33% theoretically, although current efficiencies are around 11%.