The role of printing techniques for large-area dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract

The versatility of printing technologies and their intrinsic ability to outperform other techniques in large-area deposition gives scope to revolutionize the photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing field. Printing methods are commonly used in conventional silicon-based PVs to cover part of the production process. Screen printing techniques, for example, are applied to deposit electrical contacts on the silicon wafer. However, it is with the advent of third generation PVs that printing/coating techniques have been extensively used in almost all of the manufacturing processes. Among all the third generation PVs, dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology has been developed up to commercialization levels. DSSCs and modules can be fabricated by adopting all of the main printing techniques on both rigid and flexible substrates. This allows an easy tuning of cell/module characteristics to the desired application. Transparency, colour, shape, layout and other DSSC's features can be easily varied by changing the printing parameters and paste/ink formulations used in the printing process. This review focuses on large-area printing/coating technologies for the fabrication of DSSCs devices. The most used and promising techniques are presented underlining the process parameters and applications.

Laser-Patterning Engineering for Perovskite Solar Modules With 95% Aperture Ratio

“…[8] The most frequently used HTM is the 2,2',7,7'-Tetrakis-(N,N-di-4-methoxyphenylamino)-9,9'-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD), [9][10][11][12] typically doped with 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) and lithium-bis-(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (Li-TFSI), while TiO2 and SnO2 are the most common ETMs. Two main structures of PSC have been developed so far, [13] the first, resembling the Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC), considers a mesoscopic layer of oxides, typically TiO2, used as a scaffold for perovskite crystallization, [10,11,[14][15][16] and the second, called "planar heterojunction", [9,17,18] which does not involve the use of a mesoporous scaffold. Variations of these basic architectures have been tested utilizing different material layers.…”

Research Update: Large-area deposition, coating, printing, and processing techniques for the upscaling of perovskite solar cell technology

“…Low cost manufacturing of Perovskite Solar Cells (PSCs) requires new evolutions in techniques previously developed for other thin film technologies like Dye Solar Cells (DSCs) and polymer solar cells. [1][2][3] For example, the knowledge accrued on TiO 2 as electron transport layer and on molecular compounds as hole transport material (HTM) has been important in the development of PSCs. However, PSCs are based on a completely different light absorbing material, composed of perovskite crystals which form layers which are difficult to control morphologically especially over large areas.…”

Fabrication and Applications of Flexible Transparent Electrodes Based on Silver Nanowires

“…AgNW electrodes, including Meyer rod coating [5,33,62,63], dip coating [64], spin coating [65][66][67], drop casting [68], spray coating [69], vacuum filtration [70], roll-to-roll printing [19,71,72] and transferring [73,74]. [79], and (e) pad printer [80].…”