Abstract
In this study, high energy conversion efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were successfully fabricated by attaching a double anti-reflection (AR) layer, which is composed of a subwavelength moth-eye structured polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) film and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film. An efficiency of up to 6.79% was achieved. The moth-eye structured PMMA film was fabricated by using an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template which is simple, low-cost and scalable. The nano-pattern of the AAO template was precisely reproduced onto the PMMA film. The photoanode was composed of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) with a diameter of 25 nm deposited on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate and the sensitizer N3. The double AR layer was proved to effectively improve the short-circuit current density (JSC) and conversion efficiency from 14.77 to 15.79 mA/cm2 and from 6.26% to 6.79%, respectively.
Highlights
Minimizing optical reflection in solar cells to improve conversion efficiency is always a major challenge
The incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) was characterized by illuminating the and acmonochromatic amplitude which were set at the open-circuit voltage of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and 10 mV, respectively
The top-view image of the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template shown in Figure 2a moth-eye structured polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) film
Summary
Minimizing optical reflection in solar cells to improve conversion efficiency is always a major challenge. E-beam lithography, photolithography, and nano-sphere lithography techniques are available for fabricating moth-eye patterns [2]. A cheap and efficient technique to fabricate moth-eye structured AR layers is needed for photovoltaic devices. Grätzel et al reported a dye-sensitized solar cell that has a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 7.1% by using a TiO2 nano-porous electrode combined with dyes of metal ruthenium organic complexes and an electrolyte containing I− /I3− redox couple [9]. The additional PMMA AR films have gradual variation in the refractive index that can effectively absorb incident light and greatly reduce reflectivity [10]. PMMA or PDMS as anti-reflection layers on solar cells has been reported with great improvement on light harvest efficiency [10,11,12,13]. We developed a two-step process to overcome the issue
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
