Large area hole transporter deposition in efficient solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell mini-modules

Abstract

We demonstrate the viability of large area processing for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. We fabricate mini-modules comprising two photoactive regions connected in series, of 8 cm2 total active area, using the technique of doctor blade coating to deposit the hole-transporter material. For the optimized protocol we lose only 25% of the power conversion efficiency when compared to standard test devices which are only 0.12 cm2. We estimate pore-filling fractions using reflectance spectroscopy, showing that device performance is linked to changes in the volume of the mesoporous TiO2 photoanode infiltrated with hole-transporter as deposition temperature is varied.

A perspective on the production of dye-sensitized solar modules

“…Unlike the l-DSMs, the performance of s-DSMs is signicantly inferior compared to their single cells. In a comparative study by Snaith et al, 86 serially connected 8 cm 2 s-DSMs employing mesoporous TiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 and spiro-OMeTAD showed an h of $2% (V OC $ 1.5 V, I SC $ 35 mA, FF $ 0.47), merely 25% that of a reference single cell with an area of $0.12 cm 2 . Low pore-lling ($40%) was found to be one of the factors contributing to low h in their modules, which can be improved by changing the solvent concentration of HTM and the porosity of the photoanode lm.…”

“…These advancements are paving the way towards the ultimate goals of this technology: successful commercial deployment as a fossil fuel alternative and cost-effective competition with the incumbent photovoltaics. Many developments have been seen in the scalable production of DSMs such as the fabrication of modules with certied h values of up to 8.2%, 84 the emergence of s-DSCs and s-DSMs to enhance device lifetimes, [85][86][87] the initiation of exible DSMs and their low temperature processing, 44,46 long term stability and thermal testing of transparent conducting oxide (TCO)-based DSCs up to 80 C, 81,119 and their application as smart windows. 88,89 Recent achievements such as the rst commercial large scale delivery of DSMs from Solaronix, high efficiency s-DSMs from Dyesol (reported h $ 11.3% at 1 sun, results are yet to be published), 90 and thermal stability testing up to 90 C have made further progress towards the successful commercial production of DSMs.…”

Solid state perovskite solar modules by vacuum-vapor assisted sequential deposition on Nd:YVO4 laser patterned rutile TiO2 nanorods

“…The NRs-based PSMs have not only shown enhanced photovoltaic performance compared to NPs of similar thickness and planar modules, but also, more importantly have shown a stable performance for ∼2500 h of shelf-life investigations. However, these modules were fabricated by spin coating the perovskite over the ETL and the hole transport media (HTM), a technique which is hardly scalable for large area applications [26]. Furthermore, spin coating can yield pin-holes in the perovskite layer resulting in recombination channels between the ETL and the HTM.…”

Interface Electrostatics of Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: A Joint Drift-Diffusion and Density Functional Theory Study

“…Recently reported Cu­(II) complex-based solid-state DSCs have shown up to 11% conversion efficiency . Spiro-OMeTAD (2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis-( N , N -di-pmethoxyphenylamine)­9,9′-spirobifluorene) has become one of the most attractive solid-state hole-transport layer (HTL) material over the years because of its nice pore-filling capability in TiO 2 . − In our present study, we will employ Spiro-OMeTAD as a HTL.…”