• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2011.02a
• /
• pp.381-381
• /
• 2011

In this study, a TiO2 colloidal sol was synthesized by sol-gel process, which was used as a "glue" agent to enhance interconnection of TiO2 particles in low temperature process for plastic dye sensitized solar cell. The crystalline phase of this TiO2 glue is pure anatase with average particles size of 5 nm, which was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and high revolution-TEM. The viscous alcoholic paste without any organic binder was prepared from the mixture of commercial P25 powder and glue. Paste composition and sintering process parameters were optimized for high photovoltaic performance based on low temperature process. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and photocurrent-photovoltage transient spectroscopy were also employed to investigate the mechanism of electron transport in this binder free TiO2 film system.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.1038-1042
• /
• 2004

The photoelectric responses of a biodevice consisting of chlorophyll $\alpha$ Langmuir-Blodgett film were investigated. Chlorophyll $\alpha$ Langmuir-Blodgett films were deposited onto ITO and Au coated glass. To confirm film formation, surface analysis of chlorophyll $\alpha$ Langmuir-Blodgett film was carried out by measurement using atomic force microscopy. The metal/insulator/metal structured biodevice was constructed by depositing aluminum onto the chlorophyll $\alpha$ Langmuir-Blodgett film surface. To investigate the photoelectric response, the current-voltage characteristic was measured by the conducting metal tip. The photoswitching function and transient photovoltage characteristics of the proposed device were measured by irradiation with Ar ion laser and $N_2$ pulse laser, respectively. This research suggested that the proposed biodevice consisting of chlorophyll $\alpha$ could be applied to the molecular scale biosensor and/or bioelectronic device.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.31 no.11
• /
• pp.3093-3098
• /
• 2010

The core-shell $SnO_2$@AO (A=Ni, Cu, Zn and Mg) films were prepared and the effects of coatings on photovoltaic properties were investigated. Studies on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and transmission electron microscopy showed the formation of divalent oxides on the surface of $SnO_2$ nanoparticles. It was commonly observed that all the dye-sensitized core-shell films exhibited higher photovoltage than the bare $SnO_2$ film. Transient photovoltage measurements confirmed that the improved photovoltages were related to the decreased time constants for electron recombination.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.432.1-432.1
• /
• 2016

We demonstrated that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of bilayer solar cell was significantly enhanced by inserting interfacial layer between the organic bilayer film and the Al electrode. Moreover, the water contact angle shows that the bilayer solar cells suffer from the undesirable surface component which limits the charge transport to the Al electrode. The AFM measurement has revealed that the pre- and post-thermal annealing treatments results in different morphologies of the interfacial layer which is critical for the higher PCE of the bilayer solar cells. Furthermore we have investigated the electrical properties of the bilayer solar cells and obtained insights into the detailed device mechanisms. The transient photovoltage measurements suggests that the significantly enhanced Voc is caused by reducing the recombination at the interface between the organic films and the Al electrode. By inserting the TiO2 layer between the bilayer film and Al electrode, the open circuit voltage (Voc) was increased from 0.37 to 0.66V. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of bilayer solar cells was significantly enhanced from 1.23% to 3.71%. As the results, the TiO2 interfacial layer can be used to form an ohmic contact layer, serveing as a blocking layer to prevent the penetration of the Al, and to reduce the recombination at the interface.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.16-19
• /
• 2014

Anodic self-organized titania nanotube (TNT) arrays have a great potential as efficient electron-transport materials for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Herewith we report the photovoltaic and kinetic investigations for a series of heteroleptic ruthenium complexes (RD16-RD18) sensitized on TNT films for DSSC applications. We found that the RD16 device had an enhanced short-circuit current density ($J_{SC}/mAcm^{-2}=15.0$) and an efficiency of power conversion (${\eta}=7.2%$) greater than that of a N719 device (${\eta}=7.1%$) due to the increasing light-harvesting and the broadened spectral features with thiophene-based ligands. However, the device made of RD17 (adding one more hexyl chain) showed smaller $J_{SC}(14.1mAcm^{-2})$ and poorer ${\eta}(6.8%)$ compare to those of RD16 due to smaller amount of dye-loading and less efficient electron injection for the RD17 device than for the RD16 device. For the RD18 dye (adding one more thiophene unit and one more hexyl chain), we found that the device showed even lower $J_{SC}(13.2mAcm^{-2}) $ that led to a poorest device performance (${\eta}=6.2%$) for the RD18 device. These results are against to those obtained from the same dyes sensitized on $TiO_2$ nanoparticle films and they can be rationalized according to the electron transport kinetics measured using the methods of charge extraction and transient photovoltage decays.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2014.02a
• /
• pp.463-463
• /
• 2014

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have generated a strong interest in the development of solid-state devices owing to their low cost and simple preparation procedures. Effort has been devoted to the study of electrolytes that allow light-to-electrical power conversion for DSSC applications. Several attempts have been made to substitute the liquid electrolyte in the original solar cells by using (2,2',7,7'-tetrakis (N,N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9-9'-spirobi-fluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) that act as hole conductor [1]. Although efficiencies above 3% have been reached by several groups, here the major challenging is limited photoelectrode thickness ($2{\mu}m$), which is very low due to electron diffusion length (Ln) for spiro-OMeTAD ($4.4{\mu}m$) [2]. In principle, the $TiO_2$ layer can be thicker than had been thought previously. This has important implications for the design of high-efficiency solid-state DSSCs. In the present study, we have fabricated 3-D Transparent Conducting Oxide (TCO) by growing tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanowire (NWs) arrays via a vapor transport method [3] and mesoporous $TiO_2$ nanoparticle (NP)-based photoelectrodes were prepared using doctor blade method. Finally optimized light-harvesting solid-state DSSCs is made using 3-D TCO where electron life time is controlled the recombination rate through fast charge collection and also ITO NWs length can be controlled in the range of over $2{\mu}m$ and has been characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Structural analyses by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) results reveal that the ITO NWs formed single crystal oriented [100] direction. Also to compare the charge collection properties of conventional NPs based solid-state DSSCs with ITO NWs based solid-state DSSCs, we have studied intensity modulated photovoltage spectroscopy (IMVS), intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS) and transient open circuit voltages. As a result, above $4{\mu}m$ thick ITO NWs based photoelectrodes with Z907 dye shown the best performing device, exhibiting a short-circuit current density of 7.21 mA cm-2 under simulated solar emission of 100 mW cm-2 associated with an overall power conversion efficiency of 2.80 %. Finally, we achieved the efficiency of 7.5% by applying a CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite sensitizer.