Efficient dye-sensitized solar cell sub-modules

• Published in: Current applied physics Vol. 10; no. 2; pp. S157 - S160
• Main Authors: Arakawa, Hironori, Yamaguchi, Takeshi, Sutou, Takanori, Koishi, Yutaro, Tobe, Nobuyuki, Matsumoto, Daisuke, Nagai, Takuma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.03.2010; 한국물리학회
• Subjects: Dye-sensitized solar cell; Glass–substrate; Long-term stability; Plastic–substrate; Sub-module; 물리학; Dye-sensitized solar cell; Plastic–substrate; Glass–substrate; Sub-module; Long-term stability
• ISSN: 1567-1739; 1878-1675
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cap.2009.11.004

Two topics with dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) development were introduced. The one was development of an efficient glass–substrate 10 cm-by-10 cm DSC sub-modules with current-collecting Ag grids using N719 dye ( η ac = 8.0%, J sc = 16.8 mA/cm 2, V oc = 0.71 V, ff = 0.67). Accelerated long-term stability tests were conducted using JIS C-8938 environmental and endurance test methods for amorphous-Si solar cell modules, which included a dry heat cycle test (−40 °C to 90 °C, 200 cycles), a heat–humidity test (−40 °C to 90 °C with 85% humidity, 10 cycles) and a light-soaking test (255 W/m 2 (300–700 nm), 500 h). The results suggested DSC using methoxypropionitrile (MPN) electrolyte solvent has a promising future to commercialization of DSC. The other was development of a new preparation method for highly efficient plastic–substrate DSC. This method consisted of important basic technologies such as press without heat treatment, light-confining effect by light scattering TiO 2 large particles, binder-free water paste of TiO 2 and UV–O 3 treatment of TiO 2 photoelectrode. The plastic–substrate DSC prepared by this new method showed a very high efficiency, 8.1% (0.29 cm 2) under simulated solar light (100 mW/cm 2, AM1.5). Further, an efficient plastic–substrate 10 cm-by-10 cm DSC sub-module with current-collecting Ti grids using N719 dye ( η ac = 4.5%, J sc = 10.9 mA/cm 2, V oc = 0.72 V, ff = 0.57) was successfully prepared.