Theoretical Analysis of the Performance of One-Dimensional Photonic Crystal-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

A simple analytical model that allows designing one-dimensional photonic crystal based dye sensitized solar cells of optimized performance, accounting for the actual optical features of the device, is herein presented. Based on the theoretical description of the effect of coupling such Bragg mirrors to the light harvesting electrode, recently reported experimental values of the spectral dependence of incident photon to current conversion efficiency attained for such structures are fairly reproduced and rationalized. A thorough analysis of them in terms of the interplay between the effect of the electrode thickness and the characteristics of the Bragg reflection, such as intensity, spectral position, and width, is provided. Predictions on the maximum enhancement factors expected for realistic structures are also presented.

Selective UV Reflecting Mirrors Based on Nanoparticle Multilayers

“…[ 40 ] Layers' thickness were estimated from SEM images and used as input of the simulations, so that the only free parameters left were the refractive indexes of the individual layers. From this analysis, whose full details can be found in the Supporting Information ( Figure S2), we extract n ZrO2 = 1.70 and n SiO2 = 1.32, up to 20 layers can be stacked by spin coated assisted layer by layer deposition without an intermediate thermal treatment, in general necessary for other combinations of metal oxides.…”

Review—Single-Walled Carbon Nanohorn-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…IPCEs are directly related to light-harvesting efficiencies (LHEs), charge carrier injection efficiency (η inj ), yield of the electrolyte regeneration (η reg ), and η cc s. η inj and η reg are close to unity for N719-based electrodes with a liquid I − / I 3 − -based electrolyte and only minor impact of the SWCNH-based buffer layers on the LHEs (Equation 6). 84 [6] Therefore, the key aspect of the SWCNH-based buffer layers is the enhancement of η cc s. 75,85 Importantly, η cc s are closely related to FFs, which are impacted by electron loss processes as well as series and shunt resistances (vide supra).…”

Dye Solar Cells: Basic and Photon Management Strategies

“…The combination of one dimension photonic crystal (1DPCs) layers made by using colloidal solution of SiO 2 and TiO 2 in the dye solar cell technology has been introduced by S. Colodrero and H. Miguez at CSIC in 2008 as a new powerful tool for DSC technology . They demonstrated the physical properties of the photonic crystal stack in terms of modes of the light once has passed through the multilayer assembly (Colodrero et al, 2009a;Colodrero et al, 2009b;Lozano et al, 2010). The materials integrated on the nc-TiO 2 is composed by alternating SiO 2 (n SiO2 ~ 1,5) and TiO 2 (n TiO2 ~ 2,5).…”