Multichromophore light harvesting in hybrid solar cells

Abstract

A new technologically relevant method for multichromophore sensitizing of hybrid blend solar cells is presented. Two dyes having complementary absorption in the UV-visible regions are individually adsorbed on nanocrystalline TiO(2) powder. These dyed TiO(2) nanoparticles are blended with an organic hole-conductor (HC) Spiro-OMeTAD in desired compositions and applied on a conducting substrate by doctor-blading at room temperature to fabricate multichromophore-sensitized hybrid blend solar cells. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the single hybrid layer system fabricated with two dyes, that absorb mainly UV (TPD dye) and visible regions (Ru-TPA-NCS dye), exhibited a clear panchromatic response with the sum of the EQE characteristics of each single dye cell. The first results of a multichromophore-sensitized solid-state solar cell showed J(sc) of 2.1 mA cm(-2), V(oc) of 645 mV, FF of 47% and efficiency of 0.65% at AM 1.5 G, 100 mW cm(-2) illumination intensity. The J(sc) of the multichromophore cell is the sum of the individually dyed solar cells. The process described here is technically very innovative and very simple in procedure. It has potentials to be adopted for panchromatic sensitization using more than two dyes in a single hybrid layer or layer-wise fabrication of a tandem structure at room temperature.

A Facile Polymer Templating Route Toward High‐Aspect‐Ratio Crystalline Titania Nanostructures

“…Hence, deposition of single TiO 2 nanowires onto substrates or producing well‐defined layers is easy. This particular material may give rise to various applications, such as catalytically active filter systems, energy storage devices, or in particular in photovoltaics, as anatase finds wide‐spread use in dye‐sensitized solar cells 30. Insufficient contacts between TiO 2 particles in photovoltaic devices still limit the electron transport and hence lower the efficiency of solar cells.…”

Colloidal self-assembly concepts for light management in photovoltaics

“…Energy transfer within the absorbing layer via Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) [4,5] and co-sensitization in dye-sensitized systems were also demonstrated [6,7]. In addition, independent of the device type, general light management approaches such as microcavity/optical spacer for wave guiding [8], use of scattering layers/structures [9] and plasmonics are also intensively investigated [10].…”

Embedded CdS nanorod arrays in PbS absorber layers: enhanced energy conversion efficiency in bulk heterojunction solar cells

“…Solar cells have drawn much attention as one of the most promising candidates for renewable clean energy. [1][2][3] Up to the present time, silicon-based solar cells have dominated the solar energy market due to well-developed fabrication techniques and relatively high energy conversion efficiencies. 4 However, the poor light absorption could result in the fact that the silicon solar cells must be thick in order to collect most of the incident photons, 5 which is not only wasteful but can increase the fabrication cost.…”