Abstract
Dye-sensitised solar cells continue to be a promising photovoltaic technology for indoor and outdoor applications, with increased interest in power window applications integrated into buildings. This results from properties not seen in other, more established solar technologies, such as the range of available colours, partial transparency and good performance under low light intensities or in partial shade. In spite of the attractiveness of this application and the commercial availability of suitable non-scattering TiO2 materials, the vast majority of new TiO2 materials being developed and reported in the literature are dried prior to being made into a paste and subsequently into photoanode films. Here, we make a detailed side-by-side comparison of different paste-forming techniques, with one yielding scattering films, and the other yielding non-scattering films. Devices utilising the organic dye D149 showed comparable performance using both approaches (6.9% photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE) with drying versus 6.4% PCE without drying), while the difference was slightly more marked with the dye N719 (7.7% PCE versus 6.8% PCE), suggesting that the trade-off in light harvesting required for power windows may be acceptably small. We also discuss ways by which these differences may be further decreased.
Highlights
In spite of recent developments in new photovoltic technologies and decreases in the cost of mature ones [1,2,3,4], dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs) are still of interest to both researchers and industry.This is at least in part due to their application in large-scale built-in photovoltaics (BIPV) as power windows, due to features such as transparency and the range of dye colours which may be employed.Additionaly, DSCs are expected to find significant use in indoor applications in the near future, for which efficiencies over 28% using artificial lighting have already been reported [5], where the DSC absorption spectra was tuned to better match the light source used
We recently reported on this TiO2 material (SANP) and its performance in efficient DSCs, showing that it benefited from a high isoelectric point (IEP) which led to increased dye loading [26]
SANP-S was synthesised by a new and facile one-step solvothermal process, as reported performance in efficient DSCs, showing that it benefited from a high isoelectric point (IEP) which led elsewhere
Summary
Kadhim Al-Attafi 1,2 , Andrew Nattestad 3, * , Shi Xue Dou 1 and Jung Ho Kim 1, *. Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI), ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM), University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2525, Australia. Featured Application: Dye-sensitized Solar Cells may be employed as photovoltaic power windows, owing to the use of transparent electrodes and the partial transparency of the light absorbing medium (dyes)
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