• ETRI Journal
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.647-652
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• 2004

A new ionic liquid, 1-vinyl-3-heptylimidazolium iodide (VHpII), was synthesized and applied as a redox electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells. The chemical structure of the synthesized VHpII was confirmed using $^1H$ NMR. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the VHpII was stable for thermal stress of up to $250^{\circ}C$. The energy conversion efficiencies of the VHpII-based dye-sensitized solar cells were investigated in terms of the effect of a lithium iodide addition. A solar cell containing the redox couple of VHpII and iodine showed a conversion efficiency of 2.63% under 1 sun light intensity at AM 1.5. Adding 0.4 M LiI results in a conversion efficiency of 3.63%, which was an improvement of about 40%. The increased conversion efficiency was ascribed to an increase in external quantum efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.427-431
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• 2011

Hybrid $SiO_2-TiO_2$ photoelectrode with different type of layers was investigated in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Use of a thin layer of nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ would imply reduction in the amount of dye coverage, however, lower amount of dye in the thin films would imply fewer electron generation upon illumination. So, thus, it becomes necessary to include a $SiO_2-TiO_2$ layer for increase light harvesting effect such that the lower photon conversion due to thin layer could be compensated. In this paper reports the use of transparent high surface area $TiO_2$ layer and an additional $SiO_2-TiO_2$ layer, thus ensuring adequate light harvesting in these devices. The best solar conversion efficiency 6.6% under AM 1.5 was attained with a multi-layer structure using $TiO_2$ layer/$SiO_2-TiO_2$ layer/$TiO_2$ layer for the light harvesting and this had resulted to about 44% increase in photocurrent density of dye-sensitized solar cells.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.397-399
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• 2012

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have received considerable attention as the most promising candidates for renewable energy systems in recent years. Among these, organic dyes which have many advantages such as large absorption coefficients, customized molecular design for desired photophysical and photochemical properties, inexpensiveness and environment-friendliness, are suitable as photosensitizers for DSSCs. We have studied on the design and synthesis of two organic dyes (BECZ 1 and BECZ 2) with a 9-ethyl-9H-carbazole core for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Two organic dyes comprised of two 9-ethyl-9H-carbazole moiety as electron-donor, two types of cyanoacrylic acid moiety acting as acceptor. In addition, n-ethyl unit introduced for increasing the solubility and the donating power. The obtained organic dyes were comprehensively characterized by NMR, GC-MS, FAB-MS and UV/Vis spectroscopies. DSSCs sensitized by the dyes BECZ1 and BECZ2 produced ${\eta}$ value 3.31% and a ${\eta}$ value 3.21%.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.174-174
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• 2006

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.412-415
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• 2008

In a research on the practical dye-sensitized solar cell, a study on a large module have preference because module must be able to generate the proper current that is possible to convert electrically. So the parallel connection of dye-sensitized solar cells which outputs a large current easily is essential. However, there is a current loss in a paralle connection of dye-sensitized solar cells and the loss becomes larger according to increasing the number of parallel connection. In this study, we analyzed the cause of the current loss in the parallel connection by using the equivalent circuit analysis. One DSC used in this experiment had an active area $8cm^2$(4.62cm$\times$1.73cm) and it attained a conversion efficiency of 5.43% under 1 sun illumination ($P_{in}$ of 100 mW/$cm^2$) using a solar simulator.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.461-466
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• 2011

In this study, the fluorine doped $TiO_2$ was prepared as a photoelectrode in order to improve the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells and estimated the electrochemical characterizations. The energy conversion efficiency of the prepared dye-sensitized solar cells using fluorine doped $TiO_2$ was calculated from a current-voltage curve. The efficiency of prepared dye-sensitized solar cells was improved by about maximum three times by F-doping on $TiO_2$. It was suggested that the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells was improved by hybrid semiconductors of $TiO_2/TiOF_2$ in photoelectrode based on reduced $TiOF_2$ energy level via fluorine doping. It can be confirmed that the electron transport was faster but the electron recombination was slower by doping fluorine on $TiO_2$ in photoelectrode through intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy and intensity-modulated photovoltage spectroscopy analysis.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.12
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• pp.2436-2440
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• 2009

In this work, TCO-less dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) using Ti-mesh layer is fabricated for high-efficient low-cost solar cell application. The Ti-mesh metal can replace TCO in the photo-electrode part of DSCs, thus the cell structure is composed of a glass/dye sensitized TiO2 particle/ Ti-mesh layer/electrolyte/Pt sputtered counter electrode/ glass. The Ti-mesh electrode with high conductivity can collect electrons from the $TiO_2$ layer and allows the ionic diffusion of $I^-/I_3^-$ through the mesh hole. Thin Ti-mesh ($\sim40{\mu}m$ in thickness) electrode material is processed using rapid prototype method. The efficiency of prepared TCO-less DSCs sample is about 1.45 % ((ff: 0.5, Voc: 0.52V, Jsc: 5.55 $mA/cm^2$).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.310.2-310.2
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• 2013

For enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cell performance, TiO2 blocking layer has been used to prevent recombination between electron and hole at the conducting oxide and electrolyte interface. In solid state dye-sensitized solar cells, it is necessary to fabricate pin-hole free TiO2 blocking layer. In this work, we deposited the TiO2 blocking layer on conducting oxide by atomic layer deposition and compared the efficiency. To compare the efficiency, we fabricate solid state dye-sensitized solar cell with using CuSCN as hole transport material. We see the efficiency improve with 40nm TiO2 blocking layer and the TiO2 blocking layer morphology was characterized by SEM. Also, we used this blocking layer in TiO2/Sb2S3/ CuSCN solar cell.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.687-690
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• 2004

Fabrication and characterization of dye-sensitized TiO2 solar cells(DSSC) consisting of spray-coated TiO2 electrode, an electrolyte containing I-/I3- redox couple, and a Pt-coated counter electrode carried out, using mainly FE-SEM and solar simulator. Also, effect of rapid thermal annealing(RTA) temperatue on I-V curves of DSSCS consisting of approximately 10m thickness and $5{\times}5mm2$ active area. No significant difference in the apparent size of TiO2 clusters was observed with increasing RTA temperature. Also, an open circuit voltage(Voc) of approximately 0.70V and a short-circuit photocurrent(Jsc) of 8 to 12mA/cm2 were observed in the TiO2 solar cell. With increasing RTA temperature upto 550oC, photocurrent density of dye-sensitized solar cells was enhanced, leading to enhancing the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells having Pt-electroplated counter electrode.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.416-418
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• 2008

Dye-sensitized solar cell using transparent conducting oxide as electrode has large resistance such as surface resistance, charge transportation impedance in counter electrode and electrolyte, impedance between each interface. Among that resistances, surface resistance of transparent conducting oxide is relatively large. So the change of transparency has a large effect on internal resistance of dye-sensitized solar cell. Consequently, that change cause to increase or decrease the conversion efficiency. We tried to reduce the surface resistance by laser-scribing. The active area is seperated from total transparent conducting oxide by Nd:YAG laser-scribing. As a result, we achieved the improvement of efficiency about 7% and 11% in case of $0.25cm^2$ and $1.00cm^2$ dye-sensitized solar cells.