Energy harvesting of flexible and translucent dye-sensitized solar cell fabricated by laser assisted nano particle deposition system

Abstract A cost-effective way of fabricating flexible and translucent dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was demonstrated by forming TiO 2 layer for photo-electrode via laser assisted nano particle deposition system (La-NPDS). In the La-NPDS, TiO 2 particles are accelerated through a nozzle toward the substrate beyond the speed of sound while sintering is being induced concurrently with laser treatment. A uniform and 10.55 μm-thick TiO 2 film was deposited onto indium tin oxide-polyethylene terephthalate (ITO-PET) substrate via La-NPDS using 15 nm-diameter TiO 2 particles. In situ laser sintering of TiO 2 was found to improve the efficiency of DSSC from 1.05% to 1.92%. Moreover, short circuit current and fill factor of DSSC are significantly increased by laser treatment due to close linking among adjacent particles. The necking among particles decreases the surface area of the laser treated TiO 2 layer, resulting in decrease of the series resistance and higher short circuit current. The feasibility of the fabricated DSSC as an energy harvesting unit for wireless sensor network was evaluated. Three 1 cm × 1 cm DSSC modules successfully demonstrated as a stable power supply when combined with maximum power management unit under dim light down to 130 mW/cm 2 .

[1]  Sung-Hoon Ahn,et al.  TiO2 coating on metal and polymer substrates by nano-particle deposition system (NPDS) , 2008 .

[2]  Fumin Wang,et al.  Dye-sensitized solar cells based on a single-crystalline TiO2 nanorod film. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[3]  K. Hara,et al.  Electron transport in coumarin-dye-sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2 electrodes. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[4]  Application of TiO2 nano-particles on the electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells , 2009 .

[5]  Marco-A. De Paoli,et al.  Solid-State and Flexible Dye-Sensitized TiO2 Solar Cells: a Study by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy , 2002 .

[6]  Man Gu Kang,et al.  A 4.2% efficient flexible dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cells using stainless steel substrate , 2006 .

[7]  Tetsuya Kida,et al.  Preparation and properties of nanostructured TiO2 electrode by a polymer organic-medium screen-printing technique , 2003 .

[8]  Nam-Gyu Park,et al.  Formation of Highly Efficient Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells by Hierarchical Pore Generation with Nanoporous TiO2 Spheres , 2009 .

[9]  Ming-Cheng Kao,et al.  The effects of the thickness of TiO2 films on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells , 2009 .

[10]  Aldo Di Carlo,et al.  Physical and electrochemical analysis of an indoor-outdoor ageing test of large-area dye solar cell devices. , 2012, Chemphyschem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry.

[11]  Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin,et al.  Fabrication of screen‐printing pastes from TiO2 powders for dye‐sensitised solar cells , 2007 .

[12]  G. Lu,et al.  Hydrothermal seeded synthesis of mesoporous titania for application in dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) , 2004 .

[13]  Shellie Virginia Gasaway,et al.  A novel UV-mediated low-temperature sintering of TiO2 for dye-sensitized solar cells , 2006 .

[14]  C. Lee,et al.  Effects of annealing temperature and method on structural and optical properties of TiO2 films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature , 2007 .

[15]  Tsutomu Miyasaka,et al.  Photovoltaic Performance of Plastic Dye-Sensitized Electrodes Prepared by Low-Temperature Binder-Free Coating of Mesoscopic Titania , 2007 .

[16]  Anders Hagfeldt,et al.  A new method to make dye-sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells at room temperature , 2001 .

[17]  L. Jian,et al.  Low‐Temperature Preparation of Hierarchical Structure TiO2 for Flexible Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell , 2012 .

[18]  Kisuk Kang,et al.  Application of transparent dye-sensitized solar cells to building integrated photovoltaic systems , 2011 .

[19]  Guo-Qiang Lo,et al.  High-bendability flexible dye-sensitized solar cell with a nanoparticle-modified ZnO-nanowire electrode , 2008 .

[20]  Tsutomu Miyasaka,et al.  Low temperature preparation of mesoporous TiO2 films for efficient dye-sensitized photoelectrode by chemical vapor deposition combined with UV light irradiation , 2004 .

[21]  Michael Dürr,et al.  Low-temperature fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells by transfer of composite porous layers , 2005, Nature materials.

[22]  Jung-Hoon Chun,et al.  A Photovoltaic Power Management System using a Luminance-Controlled Oscillator for USN Applications , 2013 .

[23]  M. Grätzel,et al.  A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films , 1991, Nature.

[24]  M. A. Hernández-Fenollosa,et al.  New low-temperature preparation method of the TiO2 porous photoelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cells using UV irradiation , 2005 .

[25]  Ladislav Kavan,et al.  Organized mesoporous TiO2 films exhibiting greatly enhanced performance in dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2005, Nano letters.

[26]  Brian A. Gregg,et al.  Low-Temperature Sintering of TiO2 Colloids: Application to Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells , 2000 .

[27]  Anders Hagfeldt,et al.  A New Method for Manufacturing Nanostructured Electrodes on Plastic Substrates , 2001 .

[28]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  Perspectives for dye‐sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells , 2000 .

[29]  P. Falaras,et al.  Solid-state sensitized solar cells, using [Ru(dcbpyH2)2Cl2]·2H2O as the dye and PEO/titania/I−/I3− as the redox electrolyte , 2005 .

[30]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  Conversion of sunlight to electric power by nanocrystalline dye-sensitized solar cells , 2004 .

[31]  Takayuki Kitamura,et al.  Dependence of TiO2 Nanoparticle Preparation Methods and Annealing Temperature on the Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells , 2002 .

[32]  P. Liska,et al.  Engineering of efficient panchromatic sensitizers for nanocrystalline TiO(2)-based solar cells. , 2001, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[33]  A. Hagfeldt,et al.  Deposition and characterization of screen-printed porous multi-layer thick film structures from semiconducting and conducting nanomaterials for use in photovoltaic devices , 2000 .

[34]  Sung-hoon Ahn,et al.  Nickel Line Patterning Using Silicon Supersonic Micronozzle Integrated with a Nanoparticle Deposition System , 2010 .

[35]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  The advent of mesoscopic injection solar cells , 2006 .

[36]  P. Bosch,et al.  The influence of surfactants on the roughness of titania sol–gel films , 2007 .

[37]  Caroline Sunyong Lee,et al.  Nanoparticle Deposition of Al2O3 Powders on Various Substrates , 2009 .

[38]  Caroline Sunyong Lee,et al.  Effect of stand-off distance for cold gas spraying of fine ceramic particles (<5μm) under low vacuum and room temperature using nano-particle deposition system (NPDS) , 2012 .

[39]  Hasitha C. Weerasinghe,et al.  Low temperature chemically sintered nano-crystalline TiO2 electrodes for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells , 2010 .

[40]  Animal supplier charged , 1991, Nature.

[41]  Myeongkyu Lee,et al.  Laser‐Induced Control of TiO2 Porosity for Enhanced Photovoltaic Behavior , 2011, Advanced materials.

[42]  Alberto Piqué,et al.  Laser-sintered mesoporous TiO2 electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells , 2006 .

[43]  Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin,et al.  High-efficiency (7.2%) flexible dye-sensitized solar cells with Ti-metal substrate for nanocrystalline-TiO2 photoanode. , 2006, Chemical communications.