Cobalt(II/III) redox electrolyte in ZnO nanowire-based dye-sensitized solar cells

In this work, we explore the use of cobalt complex redox shuttles in dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) based on ZnO nanowires (NWs). Arrays of vertically aligned ZnO NWs produced by a low-cost hydrothermal method are used to fabricate DSCs with [Co(bpy)3]2+/3+ as electrolyte. A direct comparison of the performance of [Co(bpy)3]2+/3+-based ZnO DSC with I-/I3--based ones demonstrates the higher suitability of the cobalt complex, both in terms of a larger open circuit voltage (VOC) and a higher photocurrent. The [Co(bpy)3]2+/3+ electrolyte results in VOC enhancements above 200 mV. This VOC increase is assocd. to the better match between the cobalt complex redox potential and the oxidn. potential of the dye. The incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) enhancement is attributed to a less competitive visible light absorption of the cobalt redox couple. Thus the present study opens new opportunities to improve energy conversion efficiency in ZnO-based DSCs.

Strategies to Optimizing Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Sophie Wenger

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) constitute a novel class of hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells. At the heart of the device is a mesoporous film of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, which are coated with a monolayer of dye sensitive to the visible region of the solar spectrum. The role of the dye is similar to the role of chlorophyll in plants; it harvests solar light and transfers the energy via electron transfer to a suitable material (here TiO2) to produce electricity — as opposed to chemical energy in plants. DSCs are fabricated of abundant and cheap materials using inexpensive processes (e.g. screen-printing) and are likely to be a significant contributor to the future commercial photovoltaic technology portfolio. The work conducted during this thesis aimed at optimizing the DSC using three different strategies: The use of versatile organic sensitizers for stable and efficient DSCs, the study of tandem device architectures in combination with other solar cells to harvest a larger fraction of the solar spectrum, and the development of a validated optoelectric model of the DSC. Organic donor-π-acceptor dyes are an interesting alternative to the standard metal-organic complexes used in DSCs. Efficient photovoltaic conversion and stable performance could be demonstrated with three classes of donor systems, namely diphenylamine, difluorenylaminophenyl, and π-extended tetrathiafulvalene. The highest conversion efficiencies were obtained with a difluorenylaminophenyl donor system (η = 8.3 % with a volatile electrolyte and η = 7.6 % with a solvent-free ionic liquid, which was a new record for organic dyes at the time of publication). Surprisingly, efficient regeneration of the oxidized dye by the I-/I3- redox mediator was found with the π-extended tetrathiafulvalene system, even though the thermodynamic driving force was as low as 150 mV. So far driving forces of 300-500 mV had been regarded as necessary for efficient regeneration of the dye cation. Also, important structure-property relationships pertaining to the recombination of electrons with the electrolyte and to the stability of the device could be identified (i.e. effect of linear vs. branched structure, linker length, and moieties used). The power conversion efficiency of solar cells can be extended beyond the limit for a single cell (∼ 30 %) by using multiple cells with different optical gaps in a tandem device. DSCs and chalcopyrite Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells have complementary optical gaps and are thus suitable systems for integration in a tandem device. It was shown that a monolithic DSC/CIGS tandem device has the potential for increased efficiency over a mechanically stacked device due to increased light transmission to the bottom cell, and a monolithic DSC/CIGS device with an initial efficiency of η = 12.2 % was demonstrated. The degradation of the devices — induced by the corrosion of the CIGS cell in contact with the I-/I3- redox mediator — could be retarded with a protective thin conformal ZnO/TiO2 oxide layer coated on the CIGS cell by atomic layer deposition. Finally, an experimentally validated optical and electrical model of the DSC has been developed to assist the optimization process, which is predominantly conducted by empirical means in the DSC research community. The optical model allows to accurately calculate the internal quantum efficiency of devices, i.e. the ratio of extracted electrons to absorbed photons by the dye, a crucial and so far difficult to determine characteristic. Intrinsic parameters — like injection efficiency, electron diffusion length, or distribution of trap states in the TiO2 — can be extracted from experimental steady-state and time-dependent data with the electric model. The model allows to make a comprehensive and quantitative loss analysis of the different optical and electric loss channels in the DSC. The model has been implemented with a graphical user interface for straightforward usage. All three optimization strategies — organic dyes, tandem architecture, and device modeling — developed during this thesis make a valuable contribution to the development and commercialization of inexpensive and high efficiency DSCs. They enable a comprehensive view of the system and pave the way for a systematic analysis and reduction of losses, which has been the ultimate route to success for several established photovoltaic technologies.

EPFL2010

Solid-State Sensitized Heterojunction Solar Cells

Soo-Jin Moon

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are considered as an emerging technology in order to replace conventional silicon solar cells or thin film solar cells such as amorphous silicon, CIGS, and CdTe. Liquid electrolytes containing iodide/triiodide redox couple have a durability problem due to the corrosion of metal contacts. In order to improve the long-term stability of DSC device it is important to find an alternate efficient redox couple. In search of this we are using 2,2',7,7'-tetrakis-(N,N-di-methoxyphenylamine)- 9,9'-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) as a hole transport material for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (SSDSCs). In comparison to the liquid electrolytes the efficiencies of SSDSCs are inferior, they are around only 30% of the efficiencies obtained with the liquid electrolytes. In optimizing the device performance and stability of SSDSCs, various light harvesting systems are employed to enhance a photovoltaic performance and investigated their properties in SSDSCs. In SSDSCs we use thin TiO2 films to avoid the pore-filling problem of HTM. Hence it is critical to use high molar extinction coefficient dyes with an efficient light harvesting capability for SSDSCs. Representative ruthenium sensitizers such as N719 or Z907 have shown good and stable performances in liquid electrolyte-based DSCs. However, their performances are low in SSDSCs due to insufficient light harvesting in thin mesoporous TiO2 films. A new family of heteroleptic polypyridyl ruthenium sensitizers having thiophene units was employed to increase the light harvesting capabilities and their applicability in SSDSCs. These new dyes could improve the absorbed photon-to-current conversion efficiencies as well as power conversion efficiencies due to their high molar extinction coefficients. The thiophene units of the ancillary ligands not only enhanced molar extinction coefficients but also augmented electron lifetime in the devices. In general, ruthenium sensitizers possess lower molar extinction coefficients compared to organic dyes. In order to increase the molar extinction coefficients and bathochromic shift in the absorption spectra of organic dyes, we applied donor-acceptor concept in organic dyes with different π-conjugation bridges. Consequently, we achieved 6 % power conversion efficiency at AM 1.5G solar irradiation (100 mW/cm2) in a solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell. Transient photovoltage and photocurrent decay measurements showed that the enhanced performance of this device was ascribe to higher charge collection efficiency over a wider potential range. We also examined near infrared absorbing dyes and they could be employed to different device architectures such as tandem cells, Förster Resonance Energy Transfer, or co-sensitization to substantiate panchromatic response. Another interesting type of sensitizers is semiconductor or quantum dots due to their unique properties. However, the efficiency of the semiconductor-sensitized solar cells was only 1-2 % range. Recently, much improved efficiencies were reported with Sb2S3-sensitized cells using different hole conductors. The Sb2S3-sensitized cells with spiro-OMeTAD demonstrated a very high incident photon-to-conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 90 %. This excellent result shows that the semiconductor sensitizers are promising candidate as light absorbers for SSDSCs. Most of the standard ruthenium and organic dyes have the limited absorption in near infrared region of the solar spectrum. Porphyrin sensitizers possess strong absorptions in the visible and near infrared region and they have good chemical, photochemical and thermal stability. However, the power conversion efficiency of SSDSCs devices using a novel D-π-A porphyrin we reached only 1.6 %. In order to improve a cell performance, porphyrin was co-sensitized with an organic dye to increase light harvesting capability in the green wavelength region as well as to reduce the dye aggregation. Instead of spiro-OMeTAD a polymer hole conductor was applied, which had intense spectral response in the visible region. Interestingly, in this system the polymer hole conductor showed dual functions, as a light absorber and a hole transporter. This hybrid solar cell exhibited a clear panchromatic response and improved the power conversion efficiency of device compared to the cell with spiro-OMeTAD.

EPFL2011

Electronic and structural modification of titanium dioxide/zinc oxide photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Aravind Kumar Chandiran

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) are a new class of molecular photovoltaics that mimics the natural photosynthesis, for the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity. A typical DSC is a sandwich of a dye sensitized nanoparticle TiO2 film and a catalyst coated counter electrode, with a redox electrolyte filling the space in between. The high internal surface area of the mesoporous TiO2 film ensures higher dye uptake for an efficient light harvesting. Following the light illumination, an electron from the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) of the dye is excited to its lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO). Due to an effective electronic orbital coupling between dye and TiO2, the excited electrons are injected into TiO2. The oxidized dye is regenerated by the electron donor present in the electrolyte. The circuit is completed by the transfer of photogenerated electrons in TiO2 via an external load, to counter electrode regenerating the oxidized electrolyte species. In a conventional DSC, the transport rate of the photogenerated electrons in TiO2 competes with the parasitic electron recombination, as these two processes occur at a similar ms time domain. This thesis work is aimed at the fundamental understanding of these electron transfer processes at sensitized photoanodes that were subject to different bulk and surface electronic structural modifications. The implications were shown to be of profound interest for the fabrication of high efficiency and low cost dye-sensitized solar cells. In the first part of the thesis, the bulk electronic structure of the anatase TiO2 nanoparticles is modified by the incorporation of different concentrations of aliovalent cations (Nb5+, Ga3+, Y3+) in the crystal lattice. The cationic doping/substitution in the nanoparticles is achieved by hydrothermal process. The modified nanoparticles retained the parent anatase crystal structure of TiO2. The transparent dye-sensitized solar cells made with these modified films, using our standard heteroleptic metal complex sensitizers and iodide/triiodide redox electrolyte, displayed enhanced photovoltaic performances, at certain added concentrations. Charge extraction measurements in DSC, reveals a formation of deeper trap states below the conduction band of titanium dioxide when Nb ion is incorporated into the TiO2 lattice. On the other hand, Ga3+ and Y3+ did not significantly affect the trap states distribution compared to the reference device. The modification in the trap states and the oxygen stoichiometry due to these cation inclusions significantly influenced the electron recombination and transport rates. These properties are investigated in detail using transient decay techniques. Following the study on the electronic structure of the bulk TiO2, the influence of the surface modification of the TiO2 nanoparticles on the electron transfer dynamics is investigated. The kinetics of electron recombination from TiO2 to the single electron redox shuttles is fast, leading to a significant loss in the open-circuit potential (VOC) of devices. The emergence of cobalt complexes as a potential electrolyte motivated us to investigate the role of surface passivation of the titanium dioxide nanoparticles. Insulating sub-nanometer oxide tunneling layers deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) are known to block the electron recombination, thereby, leading to an increase in the VOC and the collection efficiency of the solar cell. A general perception in the DSC community is that any insulating oxide layer can block the recombination. However, in this work, it is unraveled that, just the insulating property of oxides is not sufficient. In addition, the properties such as the conduction band position and the oxidation state of the insulating oxide, the electronic structural modification induced to the underlying TiO2 mesoporous film, modification of surface charges (isoelectric point) and charge of the electrolyte species have to be considered. A complete photovoltaic study has been done by depositing different cycles (by ALD) of four insulating oxides (Ga2O3, ZrO2, Nb2O5 and Ta2O5) and their recombination characteristics, surface electronic properties, transport rate and injection dynamics are investigated with a standard organic dye and Co2+/Co3+ redox mediator. A comparison is made with the conventional iodide/triiodide electrolyte. The second part of the thesis is focused at the development of new type of photoanodes for effective electron transport to increase the charge collection efficiency. We present a way of utilizing thin and conformal overlayer of titanium dioxide or zinc oxide on an insulating mesoporous template as a photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells. Different thicknesses of TiO2 ranging from 1 to 15 nm are deposited on the surface of the template by ALD. This systematic study helps unraveling the minimum critical thickness of the TiO2 overlayer required to transport the photogenerated electrons efficiently. A merely 6 nm thick TiO2 film on a 3 μm mesoporous insulating substrate is shown to transport 8 mA/cm2 of photocurrent density along with ≈900 mV of open-circuit potential, when using our standard donor-π-acceptor sensitizer and Co(bipyridine)3 redox mediator. The three dimensional conformal shell on the insulating core also exhibits one order of magnitude higher transport rate compared to the conventional TiO2 nanoparticles. Similar nanostructures were made by depositing ZnO on an insulating template and the electron transfer properties are compared with titania. We also developed ALD recipe for the deposition of crystalline TiO2 or ZnO at low temperatures (< 200 °C) on arbitrary mesoporous insulating templates, considering their prospects of making photoanodes on flexible plastic substrates. The experience gained about the deposition of conformal and pin-hole free TiO2 layer in the previous section is extended for the high efficiency solid-state mesoscopic solar cells based on CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite absorbers. We show that a 2 nm as-deposited ALD overlayer on a mesoporous TiO2 film, printed on a bare conducting glass, is sufficient to arrest the recombination process that lead to a power conversion efficiency of 11.5 %. A detailed investigation on the electron back reaction is presented using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

EPFL2013