AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Energy Frontiers Topical Conference Thursday Sessions
       Session EN-ThP

Paper EN-ThP3
Enhanced Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell by Inorganic/Organic Core-Shell Formation using Dip-Coating Method

Thursday, October 21, 2010, 6:00 pm, Room Southwest Exhibit Hall

Session: Energy Frontiers Topical Conference Poster Session
Presenter: M.J. Shin, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
Authors: M.J. Shin, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
J.M. Kim, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
H.J. Kim, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
B. Hong, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
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Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is considered as alternative to traditional solar cells due to its environment-friendly energy conversion capability and low fabrication cost. However, DSSC still suffers from efficiency loss due to a high recombination rate between the injected electrons and the oxidized dye or ions in electrolyte.

In this work, we present a very efficient but simple method is presented to improve the efficiency of DSSC using inorganic/organic core-shell electrode. This core-shell electrode consists of an inner nanoporous TiO2 matrix covered with an aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) monolayer. It is relatively easy to control the shell density by controlling the concentration of APS using the dip-coating method. We confirmed that the efficiency of DSSC with TiO2/APS core-shell instead of conventional TiO2 was significantly dependent on the shell density. Relative change in surface chemistry with APS concentration was investigated by various analysis methods. The power conversion efficiency under AM 1.5 G spectral illumination of 100 mWcm-2 was improved by 20 % (from 4.37 % to 5.28 %) when APS concentration was optimized. This TiO2 nanoparticles covered with APS are supposed to increase dye adsorption on TiO2 surface and to prevent interfacial recombination of charge carriers. For the various analysis, it was used UV-absorbance spectroscope, FT-IR (Fourier transfer IR), EIS (Electrochemical Impedance spectroscope), TOF-SIMS (Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) and HR-TEM (High Resolution-Transmission Electron Microscope ).