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. 2014 Jul 9:4:5375.
doi: 10.1038/srep05375.

In-situ fabrication of macroporous films for dye-sensitised solar cells: formation of the scattering layer and the gelation of electrolytes

Su-Jin Ha  1 , Jun Hyuk Moon  1
Affiliations

In-situ fabrication of macroporous films for dye-sensitised solar cells: formation of the scattering layer and the gelation of electrolytes

Su-Jin Ha et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs) are a promising substitute for conventional silicon solar cells. A scattering layer of submicrometer pores or particles has been widely introduced to achieve a high light-harvesting efficiency. However, many such fabrication processes require high temperatures and multiple steps to prepare the scattering layer. Here, we have developed an in-situ fabrication process for a macroporous (MP) scattering film. The macropores were formed inside the assembled cell via the dissolution of polystyrene (PS) spheres from a PS/TiO2 composite layer caused by exposure to an electrolyte solution. Specifically, the in-situ MP scattering layer decreased the transmittance of the electrode film from 58% to below 1%. The DSCs using these MP scattering layers exhibited an increase in the efficiency of 22%. Moreover, the dissolution of the PS improved the cell stability because of the gelation of the electrolyte solution; the efficiency of the DSCs was maintained at 80% of its initial value after ageing for 20 days, whereas the efficiency of the bare-electrode DSCs was found to have decreased by 50%. We believe that in-situ porous scattering layers show great promise for next-generation flexible DSCs. Moreover, this approach can be extended to various applications that utilize porous film/liquid systems.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. In-situ fabrication of a macroporous scattering layer.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Cross-sectional SEM images of (a) the conventional NP TiO2 film, (b) the PS/TiO2 composite layer on the NP film and (c) the MP TiO2 film.
The scale bars are 5 μm. The insets in figure a and figure c are photographs of each film on an FTO substrate (the area of the substrate is 2 cm*2 cm).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Real-time fluorescence images of PS/TiO2 composite layer after its exposure to the electrolyte solvent for the indicated duration.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a), (b) Normal transmittance and diffuse reflectance of the non-porous/NP film, the MP layer with a low PS concentration and the macroporous layer with a high PS concentration. The normal transmittance and diffuse reflectance of the conventional particulate TiO2 film is also shown.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) J-V characteristics of DSCs assembled using various electrode films. (b) The normalised Jsc measured at specific wavelengths for the MP/NP-electrode DSC. The normalisation was performed based upon the Jsc of the bare-NP-electrode DSC.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Nyquist plot of the EIS measurements for DSCs assembled using various electrode films.
The solid lines indicate the fitting results obtained for the equivalent circuit R-R/CPE-R/CPE.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Normalised photovoltaic parameters obtained during the long-term storage of DSCs assembled using various electrode films.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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