Research on organic–inorganic hybrid materials containing trivalent lanthanide ions (Ln³⁺) is a very active field that has rapidly shifted in the last couple of years to the development of eco-friendly, versatile and multifunctional systems, stimulated by the challenging requirements of technological applications spanning domains as diverse as optics, environment, energy, and biomedicine. This tutorial review offers a general overview of the myriad of advanced Ln³⁺-based organic–inorganic hybrid materials recently synthesised, which may be viewed as a major innovation in areas of phosphors, lighting, integrated optics and optical telecommunications, solar cells, and biomedicine.

This review describes the main features of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) and highlights recent breakthroughs in this promising thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technology. After a brief presentation of the commercially available technologies, the general operation principles and the most relevant characteristics of DSCs are summarized. Recent major advances in high efficiency sensitizers, nanostructured semiconductors and robust electrolytes offer an opportunity for DSCs integration into the marketplace. With attractive features, like low-cost potential, simple processing, wide range of applicability – from low-power electronics to semi-transparent windowpanes for electricity generation – and good performance under typical operating conditions, these cells are one step from large-scale commercialization. We describe major strategies that are under way to make DSCs a key technology in the future PV paradigm.