Query: A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films

Candidate papers:

abstract: THE large scale use of photovoltaic devices for electricity generation is prohibitively expensive at present: generation from existing commercial devices costs about ten times more than conventional methods1. Here we describe a photovoltaic cell, created from low to medium purity materials through low cost processes, which exhibits a commercially realistic energy conversion efficiency. The device is based on a 10 um thick, optically transparent film of titanium dioxide particles a few nanometres in size, coated with a monolayer of a charge transfer dye to sensitize the film for light harvesting. Because of the high surface area of the semiconductor film and the ideal spectral characteristics of the dye, the device harvests a high proportion of the incident solar energy flux (46% and shows exceptionally high efficiencies for the conversion of incident photons to electrical current (more than 80% The overall light to electric energy conversion yield is 7.1 7.9% in simulated solar light and 12% in diffuse daylight. The large current densities (greater than 12 mA cm 2) and exceptional stability (sustaining at least five million turnovers without decomposition) as well as the low cost, make practical applications feasible.
author_names: Brian C O'Regan

Michael Gratzel
title: A low cost, high efficiency solar cell based on dye sensitized colloidal TiO2 films
venue: Nature
year: 1991

abstract: Abstract There is a high impact of the solar cells on energy manufacturing. For several years the energy efficiency was limited due to base materials' structural and technological limits. High increase of energy harvesting of solar cells has been observed since the first solar cell based on dye sensitized colloidal TiO2 films occurred. One of the most promising solutions are used quantum dots (QD) for light energy conversion. In this paper, we described the use of selected characterization techniques for sandwich type TiO2/QD composites for a low cost quantum dots' solar cell in the point of view of mass manufacturer of solar cells and research and development laboratory. Moreover, the increasing role of Raman spectroscopy and mapping for the TiO2/QD was presented and compared with other necessity techniques for solar cell investigations such as ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS)
author_names: Pawel Kwasnicki

Maciej Jarzebski

Piotr Kardasz

M Inglot
title: Characterization techniques of sandwich type TiO2/QD composites for low cost quantum dots' solar cell
venue: Opto Electronics Review
year: 2019

abstract: International Application Serial No. PCT/EP2010/052953, Interna tional Search Report mailed Jul. 26, 2010, 3 pgs. O'Regan, Brian, "A low cost, high efficiency solar cell based on dye sensitized colloidal TiO2 films' Nature, vol. 353. (Oct. 24. 1991) 737 739. Perez Munuzuri, V. "Super spiral structures in an excitable medium" Nature vol. 353, (Oct. 24, 1991) 740. Lewis, Larry N. "A novel UV mediated low temperature sintering of TiO, for dye sensitized solar cells' Solar Energy Materials Solar Cells 90, (2006) 1041 1051. (Continued) EP
title: DYE SENSTISED SOLAR CELLS
year: 2017

abstract: Twenty years after O'Regan and Gratzel's seminal Nature paper entitled "A Low Cost, High Efficiency Solar Cell Based on Dye Sensitized Colloidal TiO2 Films" dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) and analogous devices have become a major topic of research, with over 1000 papers published in 2010. Although much more is now known about the physical and chemical processes taking place during operation of the DSC, the exponential increase in research effort during this period has not been matched by large increases in efficiency. This raises questions regarding the nature of the barriers that are holding back progress and whether current research is adequately addressing the key issues that are currently limiting device performance. This Perspective attempts to identify some of the factors that determine DSC performance and, as part of a selective survey of recent research highlights, presents a personal view of new approaches and research strategies that could offer ways to overcome the current efficiency stalemate.
author_names: Laurence M Peter
title: The Gratzel Cell: Where Next?
year: 2011

abstract: Cherifi, K.a b Cheknane, A.b Benghia, A.c Hilal, H.S.d Rahmoun, K.a Benyoucef, B.a Goumri Said, S.e Exploring N3 ruthenium dye adsorption onto ZnTiO 3 (101) and (110) surfaces for dye sensitized solar cell applications: Full computational study (2019) Materials Today Energy, 13, pp. 109 118. DOI: 10.1016/j.mtener.2019.04.013 a Unite de Recherche Materiaux et energies Renouvelables URMER, Universite Abou Bekr Belkaid de Tlemcen, BP 119, Tlemcen, 13000, Algeria b Laboratoire des Semi conducteurs et Materiaux Fonctionnels, Universite Amar Telidji de Laghouat, Bd des Martyrs BP37G, Laghouat, 03000, Algeria c Laboratoire de Physique des Materiaux, Universite Amar Telidji de Laghouat, Bd des Martyrs BP37G, Laghouat, 03000, Algeria d SSERL, Chemistry Department, An Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine e College of Science, Physics Department, Alfaisal University, P.O. Box 50927, Riyadh, 11533, Saudi Arabia Abstract TiO 2 and ZnO binary oxide films are extensively investigated as photo anodes in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) due to their large surface area, high electron mobility and chemical stability features. ZnTiO 3 perovskite is investigated as a photoanode, with N3 ruthenium dye, to design a new DSSC. First principal calculations based on DFT methods have been carried out to study the adsorption process of the ruthenium dye onto ZnTiO 3 (101) and (110) surfaces. The energy levels of N3 dye are studied and compared to available experimental data. The calculated energy band gap for ZnTiO 3 is 3.10 eV, which is in good agreement with experimental data (3.18 eV) The N3 dye is chemisorbed on the perovskite surface, via its carboxylic groups (COOH) which link to the (101) surface and two monodentate (ME) ester modes in (110) with bidentate bridging (BB) adsorption mode. The calculated adsorption energy 241.50 kcal/mol) for the resulting N3@ZnTiO 3 complex, is much higher than the values for N3@ZnO 89.58 kcal/mol) and N3@TiO 2 146.90 kcal/mol) The high adsorption energy of N3 dye, onto the perovskite surfaces, shows the potential value to use perovskites in future DSSCs. (c) 2019 Elsevier Ltd Author
title: A low cost, high efficiency solar cell based on dye sensitized colloidal TiO
year: 2019

author_names: Brian C O'Regan

Michael Graetzel
title: A low cost, high efficiency solar cell based on dye sensitized colloidal titanium dioxide films
year: 1991

abstract: Verification of High Efficiencies for the Gratzel Cell A 7% Efficient Solar Cell Based on Dye Sensitized Colloidal TiO2 Films.
author_names: Anders Hagfeldt

Bengt Didriksson

Tomas Palmqvist

Henrik Lindstrom

Sven Sodergren

Hakan Rensmo

S-E Lindquist
title: Verification of High Efficiencies for the Gratzel Cell A 7% Efficient Solar Cell Based on Dye Sensitized Colloidal TiO2 Films.
year: 1994

abstract: A new, low cost solar cell based on work done by Professor Gratzel was evaluated for power generation applications. The main effort at ABB was directed towards the development of cells with high efficiencies and towards the development of production methods for the electrodes. Using optimized electrodes made by screen printing techniques, an efficiency of 9.4% could be obtained for small electrodes (0.5 cm2) Lifetimes of more than 10 months without degradation could be achieved at the EPF Lausanne using this type of cell.
author_names: Reinhard Knodler

Jorg Sopka

Friedrich Harbach

Hermann Grunling
title: Photoelectrochemical cells based on dye sensitized colloidal TiO2 layers
year: 1993

abstract: High efficiency dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been achieved using a novel polymer gel electrolyte containing RbI and tetrahexylammonium iodide (Hex4NI) binary salts in combination with multi layered TiO2 photoelectrodes. Performance enhancers were incorporated to the electrolyte to improve the efficiency in the DSSCs. Varying the salt mass fraction, showed that the conductivity in the electrolyte increases with increasing amount of RbI. The highest ionic conductivity of 4.19 mS cm 1 is exhibited by the electrolyte sample with RbI:Hex4NI weight ratio of 3:1 at 25 degC. The temperature dependence of the electrolytes shows Arrhenius behavior. It is found that the electrolyte with RbI:Hex4NI weight ratio of 1.06:1 is more suitable for DSSC's applications and it has a conductivity of 3.77 mS cm 1. A colloidal suspension of P25 TiO2 nanoparticles was used to make the spin coated photo anodes in the form of stacks of 1 6 layers. The formation of a highly uniform and porous structure is observed with increasing number of layers from scanning electron microscopy and X ray diffraction studies revealed that the layers are predominantly anatase phase with crystallite size of 19 22 nm. The band gap was estimated to be around 3.22 eV based on UV Visible spectroscopy and found to be decreasing slightly with increasing layer thickness. The maximum efficiency of 7.5% and an impressively high current density of 20 mA cm 2 were observed for the 4 layer device with the new gel electrolyte based on RbI and Hex4NI. This study not only brings reliability and consistency to the ways of preparing well ordered TiO2 photo anodes but also offers the possibility of low cost practical and highly efficient quasi solid state DSSCs.
author_names: T M W J Bandara

L Ajith DeSilva

J L Ratnasekera

Kanthi Hettiarachchi

A P Wijerathna

Madhavi Thakurdesai

Joshua S Preston

I Albinsson

B -E Mellander
title: High efficiency dye sensitized solar cell based on a novel gel polymer electrolyte containing RbI and tetrahexylammonium iodide (Hex4NI) salts and multi layered photoelectrodes of TiO2 nanoparticles
venue: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
year: 2019

abstract: Coral like TiO2 nanostructured films were chemically synthesized through the sol gel method for fabrication of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) The influence of experimental parameters such as precursor hydrolysis rate, reaction time, type and concentration of acid, and annealing temperature was studied through analysis of the surface structure of the films. The coral like TiO2 film has excellent light scattering property and a mesoporous structure with fairly large specific surface area of 164 m2 g 1. The resulting DSSC, which consists of a dense, coral like TiO2 nanostructured film and the dye N719 in an electrolyte, shows a better performance as compared to a fabricated DSSC by using commonly used TiO2. A photocurrent value of approximately 16.1 mA cm 2, a fill factor of 77.6% and a conversion efficiency of 9.4% were obtained. The low cost and the possibility of controlling the morphology of the prepared film make this method an interesting candidate for use in fabricating photovoltaic devices.
author_names: Alireza Bahramian
title: High Conversion Efficiency of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Coral like TiO2 Nanostructured Films: Synthesis and Physical Characterization
year: 2013