Abstract
An optimization work on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on both artificial and natural dyes was carried out by a fine synthesis work embedding gold nanoparticles in a TiO2 semiconductor and perfecting the TiO2 particle sizes of the scattering layer. Noble metal nanostructures are known for the surface plasmon resonance peculiarity that reveals unique properties and has been implemented in several fields such as sensing, photocatalysis, optical antennas and PV devices. By embedding gold nanoparticles in the mesoporous TiO2 layer and adding a scattering layer, we were able to boost the power conversion efficiency (PCE) to 10.8%, using an organic ruthenium complex. The same implementation was carried out using a natural dye, betalains, extracted from Sicilian prickly pear. In this case, the conversion efficiency doubled from 1 to 2% (measured at 1 SUN illumination, 100 mW/cm2 under solar simulation irradiation). Moreover, we obtained (measured at 0.1 SUN, 10 mW/cm2 under blue light LED irradiation) a record efficiency of 15% with the betalain-based dye, paving the way for indoor applications in organic natural devices. Finally, an attempt to scale up the system is shown, and a betalain-based- dye-sensitized solar module (DSSM), with an active area of 43.2 cm2 and a PCE of 1.02%, was fabricated for the first time.
Highlights
The current energy crisis spurs us to employ pollution-free sustainable energy sources.Since solar radiation is the most abundant energy resource available on Earth [1], photovoltaics (PVs) are being considered one of the most promising technologies based on a renewable source
With thethe scattering light effect in Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and toand improve the per-the performance of the device, we wanted to fabricate an original scattering layer thatdifwas formance of the device, we wanted to fabricate an original scattering layer that was different from the commercial one
We compared the plasmonic effect of gold in a DSSC device containing
Summary
The current energy crisis spurs us to employ pollution-free sustainable energy sources.Since solar radiation is the most abundant energy resource available on Earth [1], photovoltaics (PVs) are being considered one of the most promising technologies based on a renewable source. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) belong to the so-called third-generation solar cells. Despite their moderate efficiencies as compared to first-generation silicon cells (a certified PCE of 26% for the best silicon cell and a certified PCE of 13% for DSSCs) [4], DSSC technology continues to attract the attention of the scientific community with 1000 published articles in 2020 [5]. DSSCs have gained widespread interest due to their low production costs, simple fabrication and, above all, their tunable optical properties and the weak dependence of PCE on the incidence radiation angle. DSSCs have the feature of increasing PCE under low sun Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 267.
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