• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.8
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• pp.1153-1158
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• 2012

Niobium oxide ($Nb_2O_5$) has a strong chemical coherence and good electrical conductivity. Therefore, this material is helpful to enhance the performance of the dye sensitized solar cells (DSC) by improving the electron mobility. In this study, $Nb_2O_5$ was mixed with $TiO_2$ and this compound was applied to the DSC to improve its performance. As a result, the current density of the DSC using the $Nb_2O_5-TiO_2$ compound on the photoelectrode was increased, because the internal resistance concerned to the electron transfer in the photoelectrode of DSC was decreased. However, large amount of the $Nb_2O_5$ induces the decrease of the efficiency of the DSC because the surface area to attach dye molecules is decreased due to the large particle of $Nb_2O_5$. Therefore, it is important to optimize the mixture ratio of the $Nb_2O_5-TiO_2$ compound for maximizing the performance of the DSC. Finally, the most optimum performance of the DSC was shown in case of the $Nb_2O_5$ concentration of 10 wt% of the $Nb_2O_5-TiO_2$ compound.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.208-212
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• 2013

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have taken much attention due to their low cost and easy fabrication method compare to silicon solar cells. But research on cost effective DSC is prerequisite for commercialization. Fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) which have been commonly used for electrode substrate as electron collector occupied most percentage of manufacturing cost. Therefore we studied FTO-less DSC using sputtered Ti deposited glass as photoelectrode instead of FTO to reduce manufacturing cost. Ti films sputtered on the glass for different time, 5 to 20 minutes with decreasing sheet resistance as deposition time increases. A light source illuminated to counter electrode in order to overcome opaque Ti films. The efficiency of DSC (Ti20) made Ti sputtered glass for 20 min as photoelectrode was 5.87%. There are no significant difference with conventional cell despite lower manufacturing cost.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.147-148
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• 2007

Dye-sensitized solar cell using conversion of solar energy to electrical energy appeared that which solves a environmental matter. The dye-sensitized solar cell uses nano-crystalline oxide semiconductor for absorbing dye. The $TiO_2$ is used most plentifully. The efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cell changes consequently in the particle size, morphology, crystallization and surface state of the $TiO_2$. In this paper, we report The effect of titania$(TiO_2)$ thickness on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells. Using doctor blade method, It produced the thickness of the $TiO_2$ with $7\;{\mu}m,\;10\;{\mu}m,\;13\;{\mu}m$. The efficiency was the best from $10{\mu}m$. It had relatively low efficiency on the thickness from $7\;{\mu}m\;to\;13\;{\mu}m$. The reason why it presents low efficiency on $7\;{\mu}m$ thickness is that excited electrons can not be delivered enough due to thin thickness of $7\;{\mu}m\;TiO_2$. And The reason why it presents low efficiency on $13\;{\mu}m$ thickness is that thick $13\;{\mu}m\;TiO_2$ can not penetrate the sunlight enough.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.1295-1296
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• 2007

A lot of researches about dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) are recently being conducted. Because DSC has several advantages to pass the limits of silicon solar cells such as a low manufacturing expense, a simple manufacturing process and its transparency. But most researches on DSC are still conducted about the unit cell and laboratory-centered. That is, present researches on DSC are not practical. Therefore, researches about large area cells and modules have to be prerequisites for DSC to have the practicality. Characteristics of large area DSC are so different from those of small area DSC in aspect of fill factor and efficiency. In this study, we made an experiment on finding suitable size of DSC that has the most effective power according to the variation of active area. In detail, the experiment was conducted about the optimum ratio of length to width and we introduced the ratio of active area to non-active area to find the active area which has the best output. Because small DSC doesn‘t have the best output in comparison with total area of cell although the smaller DSC has the better efficiency. As a result, we achieved the optimum ratio of length to width of 8:3 and active area of $8cm^2$ as the optimum size for upscaling DSC.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.902-905
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• 2012

This study is explore the photoelectric conversion change of dye-sensitized solar cells with surface treatment of the conductive substrate. gases of FTO surface treatment were $N_2$, and $O_2$. Treatment conditions of surface were gas flux from 25 sccm to 50 sccm and RF power were from 25 W to 50 W. Treatment time and pressure were fixed 5 min and 100 mtoor. The best sheet resistance and surface roughness were obtained by $O_2$ 50 sccm and 50 W and that result were 7.643 ${\Omega}/cm^2$ and 17.113 nm, respectively. The best efficiency result was obtained by $O_2$ 50 sccm and 50 W and that result of Voc, Jsc, FF and efficiency were 7.03 V, 14.88 $mA/cm^2$, 63.75% and 6.67%, respectively.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.179-182
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• 2006

The effect of electron beam irradiation on dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been studied to examine degradation of DSSC. The high-energy electron beam irradiation affects on the materials and performance of dye sensitized solar cells. We have checked the effects of electron beam irradiation of $TiO_2$ substrate with and without dye adsorption on the photovoltaic performances of resulting DSSCS and also studied the structural and electrical properties of polymers after irradiation. All solar cells materials were irradiated by electron beams with an energy source of 2MeV at different dose rates of 60 kGy, 120 kGy 240 kGy and 900 kGy and then their photoelectrical parameters were measured at 1 sun $(100 mW/cm^2)$. It was shown that the efficiency of DSSC was decreased as increasing the dose of e-beam irradiation due to lowering in $TiO_2$ crystallinity, decomposition of dye and oxidation of FTO glasses. On the other hand, the performance of solid-state DSSC with polyethylene oxide based electrolyte was improved after irradiation of e-beam due to enhancement of its conductivity and breakage of crosslinking.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.159-163
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• 2012

A TCO-less ruthenium (Ru) catalytic layer on glass substrate instead of conventional Ru/TCO/ glass substrate was assessed as counter electrode (CE) material in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by examining the effect of the Ru thickness on the DSSC performance. Ru films with different thicknesses (34, 46, 69, and 90 nm) were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on glass substrates to replace both existing catalyst and electrode layer. In order to make our comparison, we also prepared an Ru catalytic layer by a similar method on FTO/glass substrate. Finally, we prepared the $0.45cm^2$ DSSC device the properties of the DSSCs were examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV), impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and current-voltage (I-V) method. CV measurements revealed an increase in catalytic activity with increasing film thickness. The charge transfer resistance at the interface between the electrolyte and Rudecreased with increasing Ru thickness. I-V results showed that the energy conversion efficiency increased up to 1.96%. Our results imply that TCO-less Ru/glass might perform as both catalyst and electrode layer when it is used in counter electrodes in DSSCs.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.243-247
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• 2012

A ruthenium (Ru) catalytic layer and a conventional Pt layer were assessed as counter electrodes (CE) for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Ru films with different thicknesses of 34, 46, and 90 nm were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Pt layers with the same thicknesses were prepared by sputtering. $0.45cm^2$ DSSCs were prepared and their properties were characterized by FE-SEM, cyclic voltammetry (CV), impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and current-voltage (I-V). FE-SEM revealed that the crystallized Ru films and Pt films had been deposited quite conformally. CV showed that the catalytic activity of Pt was much greater than that of Ru. In addition, although the catalytic activity of Pt did not depend on the thickness, that of Ru showed an increase with increasing thickness. Impedance analysis revealed high charge transfer resistance at the Ru interface and a decrease with increasing Ru thickness, whereas Pt showed low resistance with no thickness dependence. Despite the relatively small catalytic activity of Ru, the I-V result revealed the average energy conversion efficiency of Ru and Pt to be 2.98% and 6.57%, respectively. These results suggest that Ru can be used as counter electrodes in DSSCs due to its extremely low temperature process compatibility.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2019

Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells using binder free $TiO_2$ paste for low temperature sintering are developed. In this paste a small amount of titanium gel is added to a paste of $TiO_2$ nanoparticle. Analysis of titanium gel paste prepared at $150^{\circ}C$ shows that it has a pure anatase phase in XRD and mesoporous structure in SEM. The formation of the titanium gel 1-2 nm coated layer is confirmed by comparing the TEM image analysis of the titanium gel paste and the pristine paste. This coating layer improves the excited electron transfer and electrical contact between particles. The J-V curves of the organic binder DSSCs fabricated at $150^{\circ}C$ shows a current density of $0.12mA/cm^2$ and an open-circuit voltage of 0.47 V, while the titanium gel DSSCs improves electrical characteristics to $5.04mA/cm^2$ and 0.74 V. As a result, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the organic binder DSSC prepared at low temperature is as low as 0.02 %, but the titanium gel paste DSSCs has a measured effciency of 2.76 %.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.281-286
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• 2019

Raman spectra of a-C:H thin films deposited with an unbalanced magnetron sputtering system showed that the G peak shifted to a higher wavenumber as the target power density increased and $I_D/I_G$ ratio increased from 0.902 to 1.012. Moreover, the transmittance of a-C:H films fabricated at 60 nm tended to decrease with increasing target power density; at 550 nm in the visible light region, the transmittance decreased from 69% to 58%. The rms surface roughness values of the a-C:H thin films decreased with increasing target power density, and varied from 1.11 nm to 0.71 nm. In order to achieve efficient light trapping, the light scattering at the rough interface must be enhanced. Consequently, the surface roughness of the thin film will decrease with the target power density. Further, the refractive index and reflectivity of the a-C:H thin films increased with increasing target power density; however, the Brewster angle decreased with the target power density. Hence, dye-sensitized solar cells using an a-C:H antireflective coating increased the CE, $V_{OC}$, and $J_{SC}$ by approximately 8.6%, 5.5%, and 4.5%, respectively.