Abstract
This study investigates novel deposition techniques for the preparation of TiO2 electrodes for use in flexible dye-sensitized solar cells. These proposed new methods, namely pre-dye-coating and codeposition ultrasonic spraying, eliminate the conventional need for time-consuming processes such as dye soaking and high-temperature sintering. Power conversion efficiencies of over 4.0% were achieved with electrodes prepared on flexible polymer substrates using this new deposition technology and N719 dye as a sensitizer.
Highlights
Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) have received considerable attention for use in a wide range of potential commercial applications, such as indoor or mobile devices, as well as for building integrated photovoltaic modules[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
Following the deposition of dye-coated TiO2 films onto flexible substrates using either technique, cold isostatic pressing (CIP) was used in place of conventional high-temperature sintering to prepare mechanically robust TiO2 electrodes with an enhanced inter-particle connectivity between dye-coated TiO2 particles. This process was selected on the basis that the morphology and physical properties of TiO2 electrodes prepared by cold isostatic pressure (CIP) are known to be suitable for use with flexible DSCs on plastic substrates prepared without the addition of an organic binder or heat treatment[4]
In the case of the former, pre-dye-coated TiO2 nanopowder suspensions are first prepared by adding a N719 dye solution to P-25 TiO2 nanopowder suspensions, and sprayed onto an indium tin oxide-coated polyethylene naphthalate (ITO-PEN) flexible substrate to produce a uniformly dye-coated TiO2 film
Summary
Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) have received considerable attention for use in a wide range of potential commercial applications, such as indoor or mobile devices, as well as for building integrated photovoltaic modules[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Current fabrication processes for DSCs have intrinsic barriers that hinder their use in the continuous mass production of DSC modules using speedy roll-to-roll methods The first of these is the time-consuming nature of the dye-soaking process, which results from the need to create a high density of dye molecules attached to the surface of TiO2 nano-particles. Despite eliminating lengthy dye-soaking and high-temperature sintering processes, this simple and rapid spray process still allows for the fabrication of flexible DSC with a power conversion efficiency of over 4.0% These new technologies represent a significant step towards achieving the speedy fabrication of flexible DSC modules for indoor applications that do not require a high power density
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