A wire‐shaped flexible dye‐sensitized solar cell (WSF‐DSSC) without any transparent conducting oxide materials is fabricated. The cell has a helical twisting structure formed by two fiber‐like electrodes (100 μm in diameter). Due to the twisting structure, many opaque conducting materials such as metal wire can be applied. It is found that the incident‐light‐angle dependence of the cell's IV output is extremely low.
Conductive meshes are used to replace transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), which are commonly used in electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The TCO-less flexible working electrode could be sintered under 400–500°C. A preliminary result that open-circuit voltage (VOC)=650mV, short-circuit current density (ISC)=4.5mA∕cm2, and efficiency (ηAM1.5)=1.49% (100mW∕cm2) is obtained from the liquid-type DSSC. The incident light could be dispersed uniformly inside the electrode. Testing results of the double-counterelectrode cell indicate that the transmission of electrolyte is not the rate-determining step. The dense TiO2 layer is critical in improving the cell’s performances.
Application of a hydrostatic pressure in the range of 1-650 atm boosted photoluminescence and electroluminescence of hexaphenylsilole by approximately 10 and approximately 73%, respectively, due to the suppression of intramolecular rotations and/or the increase in carrier injection, offering a helpful mechanistic insight into the intriguing phenomenon of aggregation-induced emission.
A high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cell prototype has been designed and fabricated, in which the working electrode and counter electrode are in direct contact and singly twisted. The cell is sealed in a capillary. In this solar cell configuration, the area ratio between the counter and working electrode is extremely low which allows the independent adjustment of electrolyte volume and the distance between counter electrode and photo-anode. Also it is more easily sealed compared to planar solar cell. The effects of TiO(2) film thickness, twisted pitch of counter electrode and length of device have been investigated. Our results indicate that this novel configuration has demonstrated excellent modularization function, three dimensional light harvesting capacities and the relative independence of incident light angles due to the symmetry structure. The power conversion efficiency of one cell of 9.5 cm in length can reach up to 5.41% at standard test condition (100 mW cm(-2)) and the power output may double under intense diffuse illumination. As far as we know, this is the longest and most efficient fiber-shaped dye-sensitized solar cell consisting of liquid electrolyte. The longer the fiber-shaped solar cell is, the more suitable it is for woven solar power textile if it is encapsulated in transparent flexible plastic capillary.
Solar cells are the most effective approach for sustainable energy to meet the world's increasing needs in energy. However, their large-scale applications have been limited by low cost performance, supply of raw materials, complex preparation processes and the possible pollutions produced during processing. Here we introduce a novel fiber solar cell housed in a simple and low-cost parabolic-shape reflector, which can effectively capture diffuse light from all directions. The maximum efficiency of the fiber based dye-sensitized solar cells alone reached 7.02%. Furthermore, the maximum power output was enhanced by a factor of two and five, respectively, when the fiber was in conjunction with a diffuse reflector or a micro-light concentrating groove.
A novel fiber-shaped dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on an all-carbon electrode is presented, where low-cost, highly-stable, and biocompatible carbon materials are applied to both the photoanode and the counter electrode. The fibrous carbon-based photoanode has a core-shell structure, with carbon fiber core used as conductive substrate to collect carriers and sensitized porous TiO(2) film as shell to harvest light effectively. The highly catalytic all-carbon counter electrode is made from ink carbon coatings and carbon fiber substrate. Results show that the open circuit voltage can be largely improved through engineering at the carbon fiber/TiO(2) interface. An optimized diameter of the photoanode results in an efficiency of 1.9%. It is the first demonstration of efficient DSSCs based on all-carbon electrodes, and the devices are totally free from TCOs or any other expensive electrode materials. Also, this type of solar cell is significant in obtaining bio-friendly all-carbon photovoltaics suitable for large-scale production.
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