Characterization of UV‐curable adhesives containing acrylate monomers and fluorosurfactant and their performance in dye‐sensitized solar cells in long‐term thermal stability tests

Abstract

Electrolytes were injected through holes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and the holes were subsequently sealed with UV-curable adhesives containing different types of acrylate monomers and different amounts of fluorosurfactants, which were found to affect the performance of the DSSCs during long-term stability tests. The efficiency (η) of the DSSCs' conversion of light to electricity is an important parameter. The corrosion potential (E corr ) toward the liquid electrolyte and the adhesion strength of the UV-curable adhesives to fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass affected the efficiency of DSSCs during long-term thermal stability tests. The UV-curable adhesive containing 10.0 wt % of acrylic acid (AA) monomer and 3.0-4.0 wt % of fluorosurfactant, when used to seal DSSC devices, led to the best DSSC performance of η = 4.1% during a 45-day long-term thermal stability test.