• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.82-84
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• 2013

We fabricated dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with $TiO_2$ nanowire (NW)/nanoparticle (NP) composite and solidified nanogel as the photoelectrode and electrolyte, respectively. $TiO_2$ NWs were generated via pore-infiltration of titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) into a track-etched polycarbonate membrane with a pore diameter of 100 nm, followed by calcination at $500^{\circ}C$. Energy conversion efficiency of $TiO_2$ NW/NP-based DSSCs was always higher than that of NP-based cells. We attributed this to improved light scattering and electron transport by $TiO_2$ NWs, as verified by intensity modulation photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS) and intensity modulation photovoltage spectroscopy (IMVS) analyses. Quasi-solid-state DSSCs with NW/NP composites exhibited 5.0% efficiency at 100 $mW/cm^2$, which was much greater than that of NP-based cells (3.2%).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.814-818
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• 2016

DSSCs (dye-sensitized solar cells) based on $TiO_2/SiO_2$ multi layer AR (anti-reflection) coating on the outer glass FTO (fluorine-doped tin oxide) substrate are investigated. We have coated an AR layer on the surface of a DSSCs device by using an IAD (ion beam-assisted deposition) system and investigated the effects of the AR layer by measuring photovoltaic performance. Compared to the pure FTO substrate, the multi layer AR coating increased the total transmittance from 67.4 to 72.9% at 530 nm of wavelength. The main enhancement of solar conversion efficiency is attributed to the reduction of light reflection at the FTO substrate surface. This leads to the increase of Jsc and the efficiency improvement of DSSCs.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.558-562
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• 2012

As an alternative energy, Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have received much attention due to low cost manufacturing procedure and high energy consumption rate. Incorporating scattering centers in the nanocrystalline photoanode or additional scattering layers on the nanocrystalline photoanode is an effective way to enhance the light harvest efficiency of the photoanode and the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The light scattering abilities of these scattering layers also depend on the relative sizes and phase of the particles in the layers. A higher surface area is normally obtained using large particle sizes. Therefore, transparent high surface area $TiO_2$ layers and an additional scattering layer consisting of $TiO_2$-Rutile 500 nm paste with relatively larger particles are attractive. In this work, we investigates the applicability of a hybrid $TiO_2$ electrode (or a working electrode with a light scattering layer) in a DSSCs. We fabrication various thin film using $TiO_2$ paste 20 nm and $TiO_2$ paste 500 nm. As a result, the efficiency of the a single structure thin film was 3.35% and the efficiency as scattering layer of hybrid structure thin film was 4.36%, 4.73%.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.237-242
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• 2009

As semitransparent dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have advanced to large-scale applications from lab-level research, the large-scale performance has attracted much attention. Modules of DSSCs have been investigated to optimize the efficiency as a $TiO_2$ systhesis temperature and a surface treatment of $TiCl_4$ aqueous solution. Essentially, these semitransparent modules have an extended structure with lab-scale works with the exception of the dimensions and methods for the series connection. The $5cm{\times}6.5cm$ modules have shown an efficiency of about 6% without a scattering layer. While the fill factors of modules depend on the width of each $TiO_2$ unit cell, they are much less dependent on the lengths of the unit cells.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.231-234
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• 2007

The solid state dye-sensitized saolrc cells (DSSCs) employing polymer electrolytes show high overall energy conversion efficiency as high as 4.5% at 1 sun conditions. The improved efficiency may be primarily due to the enlarged interfacial contact area between the electrolyte and dyes in addition to the increased ionic conductivity, which were done by utilizing liquid oligomers, followed by in situ self-solidification, to form the solid DSSCs "Oligomer Approach". The effect of the charge transfer resistance at the counter electrode side on the effciency has also been investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.384-388
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• 2015

We prepared blocking layers by adding 0.0 ~ 0.6 wt% nano diamond blends (DBs) to $TiO_2$ blocking layers to improve the energy conversion efficiencies (ECEs) of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). TEM and micro-Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructure and phases of DBs, respectively. Optical microscopy and FE-SEM were used to analyze the microstructure of the $TiO_2$ blocking layer with DBs. UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy was used to determine the absorbance of the working electrodes. A solar simulator and a potentiostat were used to determine the photovoltaic properties and the impedance of the DSSCs with DBs. From the results of the DBs analysis, we determined a 6.97 nm combination of nano diamonds and graphite. We confirmed that ECE increased from 5.64 to 6.48 % when the added DBs increased from 0.0 to 0.2 wt%. This indicates that the effective surface area and electron mobility increased when DBs were added to the $TiO_2$ blocking layer. Our results indicate that the ECE of DSSCs can be enhanced by adding an appropriate amount of DBs to the $TiO_2$ blocking layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.243.1-243.1
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• 2015

To replace the based on silicon solar cells, the third generation solar cells, Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), is low fabrication than silicon solar cells, environmentally friendly and can be applied to various field. For this reason, the DSSCs have been continuously researched. But DSSCs have one drawback that is the low power conversion efficiency (PCE) than silicon solar cells. To solve the problem, we used the backr-eflector the Al foil that can be easily obtained from the surrounding in order to improve the efficiency of the DSSCs. Easily detachable Al foil back-reflector increases the photocurrent by enhancing the harvesting light because the discarded light is reused. It also leads to enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE). In addition, we compared with the efficiency of the DSSCs that is applied and does not be applied with back-reflector according to the thickness of the TiO2 photoelectrode. When the back-reflector is applied to DSSCs, the photocurrent is increased. It leads to affect the efficiency. We used to solar simulator and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) to confirm the PCE and resistance. The DSSCs were also measured by External Quantum effect (EQE). At the same time, FE-SEM and XRD were used to confirm the thickness of layer and crystal structural of photoelectrode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.320-320
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• 2010

The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have achieved so far the highest validated efficiency over 11%. However, the cells with the best performance utilize volatile solvent as a electrolyte, which can cause some practical limitations for the long-term operation. This is one of the most substantial problems to be resolved for the commercialization of DSSCs. In order to improve the long-term stability, many research groups have reported new electrolyte system, to replace the liquid type electrolyte by non-volatile ones. In this work, we studied long-term stability of the DSSCs with various types of electrolytes such as (PVDF HFP) based polymer, eutectic melts of ionic liquids, and liquid based solvent. The cells with various electrolytes have been exposed to the condition under thermal stress and illumination over 1000 hours. We will report the change of photovoltaic properties with time and investigate the degradation mechanism with the impedance spectroscopic analysis.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 2019

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted great attention as sustainable energy devices. The efficiency and long-term stability of DSSCs are greatly influenced by electrode materials and electrolytes. In this review, we focused on the electrolytes of DSSCs. Polymer electrolyte membranes have been proposed as an alternative to conventional liquid electrolytes in DSSCs. Conventional liquid electrolytes can exhibit a high efficiency, but due to some problems such as poor long-term stability of device and leakage of liquid, much interest in polymer electrolyte membranes continues to rise and the papers on polymer electrolytes membranes have been extensively reported recently. This review covers the concept and development of polymer electrolyte membranes for DSSCs, and discusses the efficiency and electrochemical properties of DSSCs, highlighting the modification of polymer matrix, the introduction of additives such as organic-inorganic plasticizers and ionic liquids.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.380-383
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• 2015

We prepared the $TiO_2$ layer with 0 ~ 4 wt% of polystyrene (PS) beads having a radius of 250 nm to increase the dye adsorption and energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Then, we fabricated DSSCs using $0.45cm^2$ active area. FE-SEM was used to characterize the microstructure consisting of $TiO_2$ layer and PS beads. UV-VIS-NIR was used to determine the optical absorbance of working electrodes (WEs). Solar simulator and potentiostat were used to determine the photovoltaic properties. We observed that pores having a radius of 250 nm were formed with the density of $0.15ea/{\mu}m^2$ in $TiO_2$ layers after conducting the sintering process. The absorbance in visible light regime was found to increase with the increase in the amount of PS beads. The ECE increased from 4.66% to 5.25% when the amount of PS beads was increased from 0 to 4 wt%. This is because the pores of PS beads increased the adsorption of dye. Our results indicate that the ECE of the DSSCs can be enhanced by the addition of an appropriate amount of PS beads into $TiO_2$ layers.