Korean Chemical Engineering Research

  • 제57권3호
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  • Pages.392-399
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  • 2019
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  • 0304-128X(pISSN)
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  • 2233-9558(eISSN)
한국화학공학회 (The Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers)
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Pore Size Control of a Highly Transparent Interfacial Layer via a Polymer-assisted Approach for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

  • Lee, Chang Soo (Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University) ;
  • Lee, Jae Hun (Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University) ;
  • Park, Min Su (Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University) ;
  • Kim, Jong Hak (Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University)
  • 투고 : 2019.02.03
  • 심사 : 2019.03.27
  • 발행 : 2019.06.01
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초록

A highly transparent interfacial layer (HTIL) to enhance the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was prepared via a polymer-assisted (PA) approach. Poly(vinyl chloride)-graft-poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (PVC-g-POEM) was synthesized via atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and was used as a sacrificial template. The PVC-g-POEM graft copolymer induced partial coordination of a hydrophilic titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) sol-gel solution with the POEM domain, resulting in microphase separation, and in turn, the generation of mesopores upon calcination. These phenomena were confirmed using Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, UV-visible light transmittance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The DSSCs incorporating HTIL60/20 (consisting of a top layer with a pore size of 60 nm and a bottom layer with a pore size of 20 nm) exhibited the best overall conversion efficiency (6.36%) among the tested samples, which was 25.9% higher than that of a conventional blocking layer (BL). DSSC was further characterized using the Nyquist plot and incident-photon to electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) spectra.

키워드

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Scheme 1. Synthesis of PVC-g-POEM via the ATRP process.

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Fig. 1. FT-IR spectra of PVC, POEM, PVC-g-POEM 1:1.5, and PVC-g-POEM 1:4.

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Scheme 2. Schematic illustration of the preparation of highly transparent interfacial layers (HTILs) for DSSCs via a polymer-assisted (PA) approach, and (b) cross-sectional schematic illustrations of HTIL20, HTIL60, HTIL20/60, and HTIL60/20.

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Fig. 2. FE-SEM surface images of (a), (b) HTIL20 and (c), (d) HTIL60 on a FTO glass substrate.

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Fig. 3. FE-SEM surface images of (a), (b) HTIL60/20 and (c), (d) HTIL20/60 on a FTO glass substrate.

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Fig. 4. TEM images of (a) PVC-g-POEM 1:1.5 and (b) PVC-g-POEM 1:4 in THF/HCl/H2O.

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Fig. 5. Cross-sectional FE-SEM images of (a), (b) HTIL20/60 and (c), (d) HTIL60/20, and (e) a photograph of the HTIL samples on FTO glass.

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Fig. 6. Cross-sectional FE-SEM images of (a), (b) HTIL20 and (c), (d) HTIL60.

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Fig. 7. (a) UV-visible light transmittance spectra and (b) X-ray diffraction patterns of the HTILs on FTO glass.

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Fig. 8. (a) Current density-voltage (J-V) curves, (b) Nyquist plots, (c) incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE), and (d) normalized IPCE of the HTIL-containing DSSCs.

Table 1. Photovoltaic parameters of the DSSCs containing the HTILs and the conventional BL

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