Back electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells on textile fabrics

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are most often built on glass or similar rigid substrates. Transferring them onto textile fabrics would enable using DSSCs on large-scale textile architecture or for several textile-based stand-alone solutions, such as loading a mobile phone by a DSSC tent. For this approach, it is not only necessary to work with nontoxic and inexpensive materials, but also to create elastic and ideally even stretchable electrodes and other layers. Here we report on optimizing a conductive silicone rubber layer, filled with carbon black and graphite, on a viscose woven fabric to create a flexible counter electrode with inherent catalyst. Investigations of DSSCs with this coated textile, combined with a glass photo-electrode prepared with TiO2 and a natural anthocyanin dye, revealed effiencies up to the values gained with pure glass DSSCs.