Light-induced electrolyte improvement in cobalt tris(bipyridine)-mediated dye-sensitized solar cells

Jiajia Gao,Gerrit Boschloo,Yuan Fang,Lars Kloo,István Furó,Wenxing Yang,Torben Lund,Per H Svensson,Valentina Leandri,Yan Hao,Ahmed M El-Zohry,Jing Dai,Govind Kumar Prajapati

doi:10.1039/c9ta07198a

Jiajia Gao, Gerrit Boschloo + Show 11 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ta07198a

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Abstract

We observe a light-induced performance improvement in Co(ii/iii)-mediated DSSCs, and attribute this to an irreversible light effect on the electrolyte system containing Co(iii) together with tert-butylpyridine (TBP).

Highlights

As a promising photovoltaic technology, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted much attention due to their expected advantages with respect to low-cost manufacturing and adaptive device structure based on the pioneering work of Gratzel and O'Regan in 1991.1 Most efforts have been devoted to the engineering of the dye structure and the electrolyte formulation for broader spectral absorption and more efficient photon-to-electron conversion
The acetonitrile solutions of systematically varied combinations of the three components: Co(II)/Co(III)/TBP, Co(II)/ TBP, Co(III)/TBP, Co(III) only and TBP only were pre-exposed to light-soaking conditions (1 sun, 390 nm cut-off, 60 C; denoted as the pre strategy in Scheme 1) before preparing the complete electrolyte and assembling the device; related DSSC efficiency (h) and short-circuit current (Jsc) were compared to non-lighttreated complete electrolytes without and with assembled devices exposed to the same light treatment
The results clearly demonstrate that the effect of light exposure, rather than that of thermal stress, on the electrolyte causes a notable increase in photocurrent and total efficiency of the resulting devices

Summary

Introduction

As a promising photovoltaic technology, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted much attention due to their expected advantages with respect to low-cost manufacturing and adaptive device structure based on the pioneering work of Gratzel and O'Regan in 1991.1 Most efforts have been devoted to the engineering of the dye structure and the electrolyte formulation for broader spectral absorption and more efficient photon-to-electron conversion.

Results

Conclusion