Economical low-light photovoltaics by using the Pt-free dye-sensitized solar cell with graphene dot/PEDOT:PSS counter electrodes

Lee, Chuan‐Pei; Lin, Chieh-An; Wei, Tzu Chiao; Tsai, Meng Lin; Meng, Ying; Li, Chun Ting; Ho, Kuo–Chuan; Wu, Chih-I; Lau, Shu Ping; He, Jr Hau

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.10.008

Cited by 102 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…[1][2][3] For example, traditional photodetectors (PDs) tend to have high noise under low-light conditions that are often typical of imaging and bio-sensing applications. 4 For developing high-performance optical communication devices, it is also important to design PDs with omnidirectional and weak light detectors in order to increase the sensitivity and signal quality.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Recently, we used GQD-poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) to increase the surface morphology, conductivity, and electrocatalytic activity in Pt-free dye-sensitized solar cells for achieving weak-light light harvesting. 1 The device shows extraordinarily superior performance under indoor and outdoor weak light conditions, providing an economical solution for weak light harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Omnidirectional Harvesting of Weak Light Using a Graphene Quantum Dot-Modified Organic/Silicon Hybrid Device

Tsai

Tang

et al. 2017

ACS Nano

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Despite great improvements in traditional inorganic photodetectors and photovoltaics, more progress is needed in the detection/collection of light at low-level conditions. Traditional photodetectors tend to suffer from high noise when operated at room temperature; therefore, these devices require additional cooling systems to detect weak or dim light. Conventional solar cells also face the challenge of poor light-harvesting capabilities in hazy or cloudy weather. The real world features such varying levels of light, which makes it important to develop strategies that allow optical devices to function when conditions are less than optimal. In this work, we report an organic/inorganic hybrid device that consists of graphene quantum dot-modified poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrenesulfonate spin-coated on Si for the detection/harvest of weak light. The hybrid configuration provides the device with high responsivity and detectability, omnidirectional light trapping, and fast operation speed. To demonstrate the potential of this hybrid device in real world applications, we measured near-infrared light scattered through human tissue to demonstrate noninvasive oximetric photodetection as well as characterized the device's photovoltaic properties in outdoor (i.e., weather-dependent) and indoor weak light conditions. This organic/inorganic device configuration demonstrates a promising strategy for developing future high-performance low-light compatible photodetectors and photovoltaics.

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Omnidirectional Harvesting of Weak Light Using a Graphene Quantum Dot-Modified Organic/Silicon Hybrid Device

Tsai

Tang

et al. 2017

ACS Nano

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“…[2] Nanostructures produce unique optical and electronic properties, which have the potential to meet the goals of efficiency via nanostructures for the concurrent improvement of optical and electrical properties in solar devices. [25][26][27][28][29] In this work, we emphasize the importance of addressing the accompanying losses caused by the incorporation of nanostructures. We propose several schemes to fix and avoid these losses, which we classify into three groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Highly Efficient Nanostructured Solar Cells Using Concurrent Electrical and Optical Design

Wang

2017

Advanced Energy Materials

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For example, the multiple exciton generation (MEG) effect, observed in quantum dots (QDs), could have the potential to boost the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit from 33.7% to 44.0%. [4,5] Nanostructured absorbers, featuring subwavelength features, can achieve an absorption enhancement factor higher than the conventional ray-optic limit across a broadband range of wavelengths, which opens an entirely new way of designing highly efficient nanostructured solar cells. [6,7] Meanwhile, the utilization of nanostructures can improve carrier collection by promoting the separation of photogenerated carriers and shortening the diffusion length of charge carriers using core-shell architectures. [8] However, despite the advantages of nanostructures, at present the efficiency of these solar cells remains lower than that of first-and second-generation devices. Compared with commercially available Si wafer photovoltaics, whose energy conversion efficiency can reach 25.6%, the record energy conversion efficiency of a nanostructured Si solar cell is only 22.1%, which is still far from the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit of 32.0%. [9,10] This limited performance is due to the fact that most nanostructures bring accompanying optical or electrical losses to solar cells (Figure 1). [11][12][13][14][15] In fact, most nano-based solar cells have relatively low open-circuit voltages (V OC ) and a disproportionate enhancement of the short-circuit current density (J SC ) compared to the absorption enhancement via light-trapping nanostructures. Therefore, in order to avoid the counterbalance of optical and electrical gains by the accompanying losses associated with nanomaterials, it is necessary to look beyond singularly focused optical or electrical promotion schemes, and instead shift toward the concurrent design of electrical and optical properties using a combined perspective to achieve highly efficient nanostructured solar cells.Thus far, many excellent reviews have summarized different photon management or light-harvesting schemes with the use of nanostructures. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] These authors point out that important work remains to ensure that improved optical absorption does not come at the sacrifice of the device's electrical properties. [16,17,[19][20][21][22][23][24] However, there have been few reviews that propose a solution for how to overcome this challenge. Recently, there has been considerable effort to increase both light absorption and the photogenerated carrier collection Recent technological advances in conventional planar and microstructured solar cell architectures have significantly boosted the efficiencies of these devices near the corresponding theoretical values. Nanomaterials and nano structures have promising potential to push the theoretical limits of solar cell efficiency even higher using the intrinsic advantages associated with these materials, including efficient photon management, rapid charge transfer, and short charge collection distances. However, at present the efficiency of...

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“…PEDOT:PSS (PEDOT) conducting polymer is a good choice because it has high conductivity and exhibits electrocatalytic activity toward converting tri-iodide I − 3 into iodide (I − ) [21]. Consequently, DSSCs with CEs made of PEDOT composited with various types of carbon catalysts often show a high solar conversion efficiency [22][23][24][25][26][27]. Notably, human hair-derived carbon has rarely been tested as a DSSC CE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using a Composite of PEDOT:PSS and Carbon Derived from Human Hair for a Counter Electrode

Moolsarn

Tangtrakarn

Pimsawat

et al. 2017

International Journal of Photoenergy

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Carbon derived from hair is interesting because it has good electrocatalytic activity due to the existence of innate heteroatom dopants especially nitrogen and sulfur. In this study, a carbon catalyst containing high nitrogen contents (9.47 at.%) was fabricated without using any harsh chemicals. Moreover, the carbonization temperature was only 700°C. Carbonized hair/ PEDOT:PSS composites (C x P) with varied carbon contents from x = 0.2 to 0.8 g were tested as a counter electrode (CE) for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). This type of DSSC CE has scarcely been investigated. A DSSC with a C 0.6 P CE provides the best efficiency (6.54 ± 0.11%) among all composite CEs because it has a high fill factor (FF) and a high short-circuit current density (J sc ). The efficiency of DSSC with C 0.6 P CE is lower than Pt's (7.29 ± 0.01%) since the Pt-based DSSC has higher FF and J sc values. However, C 0.6 P is still promising as a DSSC CE since it is more cost-effective than Pt.

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Economical low-light photovoltaics by using the Pt-free dye-sensitized solar cell with graphene dot/PEDOT:PSS counter electrodes

Cited by 102 publications

References 39 publications

Omnidirectional Harvesting of Weak Light Using a Graphene Quantum Dot-Modified Organic/Silicon Hybrid Device

Omnidirectional Harvesting of Weak Light Using a Graphene Quantum Dot-Modified Organic/Silicon Hybrid Device

Toward Highly Efficient Nanostructured Solar Cells Using Concurrent Electrical and Optical Design

A Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using a Composite of PEDOT:PSS and Carbon Derived from Human Hair for a Counter Electrode

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