T Brown

Stability issues pertaining large area perovskite and dye-sensitized solar cells and modules

Perovskite and dye-sensitized solar cells are PV technologies which hold promise for PV application. Arguably, the biggest issue facing these technologies is stability. The vast majority of studies have been limited to small area laboratory cells. Moisture, oxygen, UV light, thermal and electrical stresses are leading the degradation causes. There remains a shortage of stability investigations on large area devices, in particular modules. At the module level there exist particular challenges which can be different from those at the small cell level such as encapsulation (not only of the unit cells but of interconnections and contacts), non-uniformity of the layer stacks and unit cells, reverse bias stresses, which are important to investigate for technologies that aim for industrial acceptance. Herein we present a review of stability investigations published in the literature pertaining large area perovskite and dye-sensitized solar devices fabricated both on rigid (glass) and flexible substrates.

Thermal activation of mass transport and charge transfer at Pt in the I3−/I− electrolyte of a dye-sensitized solar cell

The electrochemical properties of the I(3)(-)/I(-) reaction mediator as a function of temperature in the range from 30 degrees C to 80 degrees C were investigated by means of symmetric Pt electrodes thin-layer cells (TLC), using three electro-analytical techniques: Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Slow Scan Cyclic Voltammetry (SSCV) and Chronoamperometry (CA). Our study pointed out that raising the cell temperature has a beneficial effect both on charge transfer and on mass transport, with an activation energy for the electron transfer process at equilibrium of 24 kJ mol(-1), and of 12 kJ mol(-1) for the mass transfer process at equilibrium. Viscosity and conductivity measurements have demonstrated that most of the ionic mass transport in the solvent (methoxypropionitrile) follows the Stokes law and that the Walden product is constant, in the temperature range investigated. The diffusion of I(3)(-), however, was found to be partly non-Stokesian at lower temperature where the viscosity of the electrolyte is higher. We have shown that EIS and chronoamperometry are both valid methods to derive diffusion coefficients of redox ions in TLC, even if their exact concentration in the electrolyte is not known.

Laser sintering of photoelectrode layers for Dye Solar Cell technology

Scanning laser processing has become a useful and often used tool in thin film solar cell industries, since it enables precise, low cost, non-contact and highly automated fabrication processes such as scribing, patterning, marking, edge deletion, local melting and sintering. Dye Solar Cells (DSCs) are electrochemical photovoltaic devices representing an attractive technology for large area solar energy conversion since they utilize relatively cheap materials and simple manufacturing processes often “borrowed” from the printing industry. In this paper we show successful application of laser processing to this technology.