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. 2020 Jun;5(6):468-477.
doi: 10.1038/s41560-020-0624-7. Epub 2020 Jun 8.

Photochromic dye-sensitized solar cells with light-driven adjustable optical transmission and power conversion efficiency

Quentin Huaulmé  1 , Valid M Mwalukuku  1 , Damien Joly  1 , Johan Liotier  1 , Yann Kervella  1 , Pascale Maldivi  1 , Stéphanie Narbey  2 , Frédéric Oswald  2 , Antonio J Riquelme  3 , Juan Antonio Anta  3 , Renaud Demadrille  1
Affiliations

Photochromic dye-sensitized solar cells with light-driven adjustable optical transmission and power conversion efficiency

Quentin Huaulmé et al. Nat Energy. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Semi-transparent photovoltaics only allows for the fabrication of solar cells with an optical transmission that is fixed during their manufacturing resulting in a trade-off between transparency and efficiency. For the integration of semi-transparent devices in building, ideally solar cells should generate electricity while offering the comfort for users to self-adjust their light transmission with the intensity of the daylight. Here we report a photochromic dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on donor-π-conjugated bridge-acceptor structures where the π-conjugated bridge is substituted for a diphenyl-naphthopyran photochromic unit. DSSCs show change in colour and self-adjustable light transmittance when irradiated with visible light and a power conversion efficiency up to 4.17%. The colouration-decolouration process is reversible and these DSSCs are stable over 50 days. We also report semi-transparent photo-chromo-voltaic mini-modules (23 cm2) exhibiting a maximum power output of 32.5 mW after colouration.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests declaration. R.D, D.J, Y.K are employees of CEA which holds a patent on this technology. Inventors : R. Demadrille, D. Joly, Y. Kervella. Current Assignee Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives. Application number: 17305597.1 Date of publication: 28.11.2018. S.N is currently employee of Solaronix Company which sells electrodes and chemical components that are used in this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Chemical structure of the dyes (NPL, NPB, and NPI) synthesized in this work. (b) Example of photochromic interconversion for 3,3-diphenyl-[3H]-naphtho[2,1-b]pyran dye.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Normalized absorption spectra of (a) NPL, (b) NPB, (c) NPI, in solution (10-5 M in non-degassed toluene) recorded in the dark (black lines) and under irradiation (coloured lines), irradiation conditions (continuous irradiation with a 200W Xenon lamp, equipped with band-pass filter 350-425 nm). (d) Decolouration curves of the dyes recorded in solution in the dark (25°C, 2.10-5 M in toluene) after photo-stationary state reached under irradiation with a polychromatic light infrared filtered (200W). The optical density variation was monitored at the λmax of the coloured isomers for each dye.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Experimental and DFT calculated energy levels of the frontier orbitals of the dyes and their spatial localizations (CF, closed form, OF open form trans-isomer). LUMO energy levels are shown in red, HOMO energy levels are shown in blue. The position of the conduction band edge (CB) of the TIO2 and Nernst potential of the triiodide/iodide redox couple is indicated with a horizontal dashed line with grey and orange colours respectively.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Current-voltage characteristics of representative opaque photochromic solar cells registered in the dark (black line), after 15 seconds under irradiation (magenta line) and after few minutes of irradiation at the photo-stationary state (blue line) for (a) NPL, (b) NPB and (c) NPI. Insets show of the DSSCs before irradiation (top) and after full coloration under irradiation (bottom).
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) UV-Vis spectrum of a complete semi-transparent NPI based solar cell (13 μm-thick TiO2) before (black line, yellow solar cell) and after irradiation (green lines, green solar cells), IPCE spectrum of an NPI-based transparent solar cell before irradiation (black dots) and at the PSS after activation under irradiation (green dots). (c) Evolution of the Average Visible Transmission (AVT, measured between 380 and 740 nm) and PCE of a semitransparent NPI-based solar cell as a function of light exposure time (standard irradiation conditions). (d) Bleaching curve registered at λmax of a complete semi-transparent NPI based solar cell and picture of the cell before and after decolouration.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) and (b) Nyquist plots for NPI cells with optimized electrolytes (results for two specimens NPI-1 and NPI-2 are shown). (c) and (d) Recombination resistance as a function of DC voltage (dark) or Voc (light).The latter was fixed by tuning the light illumination intensity. Dashed lines are fits to Eq. (2)
Figure 7
Figure 7. Evolution of the PCE and Jsc of NPI-based opaque solar cells, recorded at the PSS over storage time in the dark at 20°C without encapsulation, according to ISOS-D1 standard protocol.
Figure 8
Figure 8. Evolution of the colour of NPI-based solar semi-transparent mini-module when exposed to natural light at 20°C.
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