Performances improvement of eosin Y sensitized solar cells by modifying TiO2 electrode with silane-coupling reagent

• Published in: Chinese science bulletin Vol. 54; no. 15; pp. 2633 - 2640
• Main Authors: Zhou, YanFang, Li, XuePing, Zhang, JingBo, Zhou, XiaoWen, Lin, Yuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg SP Science in China Press 01.08.2009
• Subjects: Articles/Physical Chemistry; Chemistry/Food Science; Earth Sciences; Engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; Life Sciences; multidisciplinary; Physics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); TiO2电极; 太阳能电池; 曙红Y; 染料敏化; 硅烷偶联剂; 能量转换效率; silane-coupling reagent; electrode; eosin Y; TiO; dye-sensitized solar cells; organic dye; modification
• ISSN: 1001-6538; 2095-9273; 1861-9541; 2095-9281
• DOI: 10.1007/s11434-009-0440-8

Chemical fixing of xanthene dye （eosin Y） on the surface of TiO2 electrode was carried out by modifying the electrode with silane-coupling reagent to obtain stable dye-sensitized TiO2 electrode. Such silane modification can not only evidently enhance the stability of dye-sensitized TiO2 electrode but also improve the energy conversion efficiency of the assembled cells by increasing short-circuit photocurrent （Jsc） and open-circuit photovoltage （Voc）. It was found that the improvements of cell performances differ depending on the composition of the electrolyte. The optimum cell of the cell performance was achieved in the electrolyte with 0.5 mol/L TBAI/0.05 mol/L 12/EC：PC（3：1 w/w）, yielding Jsc of 4.69 mA. cm-2, Voc of 0,595 V, fill factor （FF） of 0.64 and ηof 1,78%, Different spectroscopic techniques including UV-Vis spectra, fluorescence spectra, EIS and dark current measurements were employed to derive reasonable analysis and explanations.