The present invention relates to a photo-electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell comprising hollow spherical agglomerates of metal oxide nanoparticles for providing improved photoelectric conversion efficiency; and a process for the preparation thereof.
The dye-sensitized solar cell reported by Gratzel et al. of Switzerland in 1991 comprises, as shown in
The dye-sensitized solar cell initially proposed by Gratzel et al. did not comprise a light scattering layer, and therefore, to maximize the absorption of the incident light, the light absorbing layer had to be made thick. However, the increased resistance with the thickness of the light absorbing layer leads to the lowering of the absorption efficiency. In order to solve this problem, a light scattering layer (30a) (see
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a photoelectrode having an improved light scattering layer for a dye-sensitized solar cell, said light scattering layer comprising hollow spherical agglomerates of metal oxide nanoparticles which are capable of creating more photoelectrons due to its enhanced light scattering and light absorbing abilities; and a process for the preparation thereof.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photo-electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell comprising a conductive substrate; a light absorbing porous film comprising nanoparticles of a first metal oxide, which is formed on the conductive substrate; a light scattering porous film comprising hollow spherical agglomerates of nanoparticles of a second metal oxide, which is formed on the light absorbing porous film; and a photosensitive dye adsorbed on the surface of the light absorbing metal oxide nanoparticles as well as on the surface of the hollow spherical agglomerates of the light scattering porous film.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process for preparing a photo-electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell comprising (a) forming a light absorbing porous film comprising nanoparticles of a first metal oxide on the surface of a conductive substrate; (b) forming a light scattering porous film comprising hollow spherical agglomerates of nanoparticles of a second metal oxide on the light absorbing porous film; and (c) depositing a photosensitive dye on the surfaces of the light absorbing porous film and the light scattering porous film using an adsorption method.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dye-sensitized solar cell comprising said photo-electrode.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which respectively show:
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a photoelectrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell is provided by a process comprising applying nanoparticles of a first metal oxide over a transparent conductive substrate to form a light absorbing porous film, preparing a hollow spherical agglomerate of nanoparticles of a second metal oxide (hereinafter, abbreviated as “hollow sphere”) and then adding thereto a polymeric binder and an organic solvent to prepare a paste, applying the resulting paste over the light absorbing porous film to form a light scattering porous film, subjecting the light absorbing/scattering porous films to heat treatment, and depositing a photosensitive dye on the surfaces of the light absorbing/scattering porous films.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Hollow spheres (30b) are prepared according to a method disclosed in Korean Patent No. 0575843, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The second metal oxide used in the preparation of the hollow spheres may be selected from the group consisting of titanium (Ti) oxide, zirconium (Zr) oxide, strontium (Sr) oxide, zinc (Zn) oxide, indium (In) oxide, lanthanum (La) oxide, vanadium (V) oxide, molybdenum (Mo) oxide, tungsten (W) oxide, tin (Sn) oxide, niobium (Nb) oxide, magnesium (Mg) oxide, aluminum (Al) oxide, yttrium (Y) oxide, scandium (Sc) oxide, samarium (Sm) oxide, gallium (Ga) oxide, strontium-titanium (SrTi) oxide, and a mixture thereof.
Preferably, the second metal oxide nanoparticles of hollow spheres have an average particle size ranging from 1 to 500 nm, preferably 5 to 100 nm, and the hollow spheres, an average diameter ranging from 100 to 5,000 nm.
The hollow spheres thus obtained are mixed with a solvent to produce a colloidal solution, which is then mixed with a binder resin. Then, the resulting mixture may be concentrated using a Rotor Evaporator, for example at a temperature of 40 to 70° C. for 30 minutes to 1 hour to remove the solvent, producing a paste containing hollow spheres.
The binder resin may be any of those known in the art, and is preferably a polymer which does not leave organic residues after heat treatment, such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyethylene oxide (PEO), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and ethyl cellulose. Further, the hollow sphere paste thus obtained may be dispersed once more using a three-roll mill in order to obtain a more homogeneous dispersion.
Any solvent that may be used in preparing a colloidal solution can be used in this invention, and it includes, for example, ethanol, methanol, terpineol, lauric acid, tetrahydrofuran (THF), and water.
In this invention, one preferred embodiment of the hollow sphere paste composition comprises titanium oxide, lauric acid, terpineol and ethyl cellulose; or titanium oxide, ethanol, and ethyl cellulose. In this case, the mixing ratio of the binder resin, the solvent and the hollow sphere is not particularly limited in this invention, and ethyl cellulose, lauric acid, terpineol and hollow sphere may be mixed at a weight ratio of 1:2-6:0.2-0.5:0.05-0.3.
The structure of dye-sensitized solar cell comprising a light scattering layer made of the hollow spheres is illustrated in
The nanoparticles of the first metal oxide for forming light absorbing porous film can be synthesized by hydrothermal reaction, but commercially available metal oxide nanoparticles may be also used in this invention. The metal oxide nanoparticles are mixed with a solvent to produce a colloidal solution having a viscosity ranging from 5×104 to 5×105 centipoises (cps), which is then mixed with a binder resin. Then, the resulting mixture may be concentrated using a Rotor Evaporator, for example at a temperature of 40 to 70° C. for 30 minutes to 1 hour, to remove the solvent, producing a paste containing metal oxide nanoparticles.
The binder resin may be any of those known in the art, and is preferably a polymer which does not leave organic residues after heat treatment, such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyethylene oxide (PEO), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and ethyl cellulose. Further, the metal oxide nanoparticle paste thus obtained may be dispersed once more using a three-roll mill in order to obtain a more homogeneous dispersion.
The first metal oxide used in the preparation of nanoparticle, which may be the same as the second metal oxide used in the preparation of hollow spheres, may be selected from the group consisting of titanium (Ti) oxide, zirconium (Zr) oxide, strontium (Sr) oxide, zinc (Zn) oxide, indium (In) oxide, lanthanum (La) oxide, vanadium (V) oxide, molybdenum (Mo) oxide, tungsten (W) oxide, tin (Sn) oxide, niobium (Nb) oxide, magnesium (Mg) oxide, aluminum (Al) oxide, yttrium (Y) oxide, scandium (Sc) oxide, samarium (Sm) oxide, gallium (Ga) oxide, strontium-titanium (SrTi) oxide, and a mixture thereof. More preferably, the first metal oxide may be selected from the group consisting of titanium oxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO2), and tungsten oxide (WO3).
Preferably, the first metal oxide nanoparticles have an average particle size of less than 500 nm, more preferably from 1 to 100 nm.
The organic solvent that may be used in producing a colloidal solution includes ethanol, methanol, terpineol, lauric acid, tetrahydrofuran (THF), and water.
In this invention, one preferred embodiment of the first metal oxide nanoparticle paste composition comprises titanium oxide, lauric acid, terpineol and ethyl cellulose; or titanium oxide, ethanol and ethyl cellulose. In this case, the mixing ratio of the metal oxide nanoparticle, the binder resin and the solvent is not particularly limited in this invention, and ethyl cellulose, lauric acid, terpineol and metal oxide nanoparticles may be mixed at a weight ratio of 1:2-6:0.2-0.5:0.05-0.3.
The first metal oxide nanoparticle paste thus obtained is applied on a transparent conductive substrate (10), which is then subjected to heat treatment, for example at a high temperature of 450 to 500° C. for about 30 minutes in the air or an oxygen atmosphere, to produce the light absorbing porous film comprising first metal oxide nanoparticles.
The transparent conductive substrate may be any of those used in the art, e.g., a transparent plastic substrate, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP), polyimide (PI), triacethyl cellulose (TAC), etc.; or a glass substrate having a conductive film, such as indium tin oxide (ITO), fluorine tin oxide (FTO), ZnO—Ga2O3, ZnO—Al2O3, SnO2—Sb2O3, etc., coated thereon.
The hollow sphere paste previously obtained is applied over the light absorbing porous film (21) thus formed using a doctor blade, and then subjected to heat treatment, for example at a high temperature of 450 to 500° C. for about 30 minutes in the air or an oxygen atmosphere to produce the inventive light scattering porous film comprising the hollow spheres (30b).
Preferably, the average thickness of the light scattering porous film comprising the hollow spheres is in the range of 10 nm to 4 μm. It is highly preferred to set the thickness of the light scattering porous film to said range for achieving the desired photoelectron generation and photo-scattering efficiencies.
The photosensitive dye is then coated on the surface of the light absorbing porous film as well as on the surface of the light scattering porous film. The photosensitive dye that may be used in the present invention is a ruthenium (Ru) compound, e.g., Ru(4,4′-dicarboxy-2,2′-bipyridine)2(NCS)2, or any material capable of absorbing visible light. The dye coating may be carried out by dye adsorption in the preparation of the dye-sensitized solar cells. For example, a photo-electrode having porous metal oxide films is immersed in a solution containing a photosensitive dye for over a period of about 12 hours, to allow the photosensitive dye to adsorb on the surface of the porous metal oxide films. The solvent for dissolving the dye is not particularly limited in the present invention, but preferred is acetonitrile, dichloromethane, or an alcohol. After the adsorption of the dye, the treated substrate may be washed with a solvent to remove unadsorbed dye.
The electrolyte (60) is uniformly dispersed between the photo-electrode (70) and the counter electrode (80) inclusive of the pores of the light absorbing porous film (20) and the light scattering porous film (30b).
The dye-sensitized solar cell according to the present invention comprises the photo-electrode (70) formed on a transparent conductive substrate (10), and the counter electrode (80) and the electrolyte (60) may be of any kinds that are available in the art. For example, the counter electrode (80) may comprise a platinum layer or a carbonaceous layer on a conductive substrate (10), while the electrolyte (60) may comprise an iodide/triodide pair that receives an electron from the counter electrode (80) by oxidation and reduction and transfers the electron to the dye (22) of the photo-electrode (70).
The following Examples and Comparative Examples are given for the purpose of illustration only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
Hollow spherical agglomerates of titanium oxide nanoparticles (also referred to as “hollow sphere”), having a mean diameter of 1 to 2 μm, were fabricated according to the method disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0575843, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2 mmol of titanium isopropoxide (97%, Aldrich Chemical Co.) was dissolved in 20 ml of ethanol, 4 mmol of TBAH (tetra-butyl ammonium hydroxide in the form of a 40% solution obtained from Aldrich Chemical Co.) was added slowly thereto with stirring for about 10 minutes to adjust the molar ratio of Ti to TBAH was 1:2. The resulting clear solution was then subjected to a solvothermal reaction at 240° C. for 6 hours in a high-pressure reactor, during which ultra-fined white titania nanoparticles having the anatase crystalline form were self-assembled to form a hollow sphere having a mean diameter of 1 to 2 μm. The yield of the hollow sphere titania nanoparticles was 1.6 g.
Instead of the conventional light scattering particles, the hollow spheres obtained in Preparation Example 1 were employed in forming a light absorbing layer in a photo-electrode to assess its capability in enhancing the photocurrent.
An FTO (fluorine-doped tin oxide) coated glass substrate was prepared.
An area of 1.5 cm2 of the conductive surface thereof was masked using an adhesive tape.
Then, a metal oxide nanoparticle paste comprising the hollow sphere particles obtained in Preparation Example 1, a polymer binder (ethyl cellulose) and an organic solvent (terpineol) was applied over the coated substrate with a doctor blade, and subjected to heat treatment at 500° C. for 15 minutes to form a porous film having a thickness of 9.8 μm. The above mentioned metal oxide nanoparticle paste contained ethyl cellulose, lauric acid, terpineol, and hollow sphere particles in a weight ratio of 1:4:0.3:0.1.
The coated substrate thus obtained was dipped in 0.3 mM [Ru(4,4′-dicarboxy-2,2′-bipyridine)2(NCS)2] in ethanol for 12 hours to let the ruthenium complex adsorb on the surface of the porous film.
An FTO coated glass substrate was prepared, and an area of 1.5 cm2 of the conductive surface thereof was masked using an adhesive tape, and a solution of H2PtCl6 was coated thereon by spin coating. After the adhesive tape was removed, the substrate was subjected to heat treatment at 500° C. for 30 minutes to produce a counter electrode.
An acetonitrile electrolyte solution containing LiI (0.5 M) and I (0.05 M) was injected into the space between the photo-electrode and the counter electrode obtained above, and the resulting assembly was sealed using an adhesive epoxy resin to produce a dye-sensitized solar cell, as depicted in
In order to assess the ability of the hollow sphere particles obtained in Preparation Example 1 in enhancing the generation of the photocurrent in addition to its improved light scattering effect, a dye-sensitized solar cell was manufactured using the procedure of Comparative Example 1 except that conventional light scattering particles (titanium oxide nanoparticles having a mean particle size of 400 nm) were employed in forming the light absorbing layer in place of the hollow sphere particles.
An FTO coated glass substrate was prepared, and an area of 1.5 cm2 of the conductive surface thereof was masked using an adhesive tape.
Then, a metal oxide nanoparticle paste composed of titanium oxide nanoparticles (mean particle size: 20 nm), a polymer binder (ethyl cellulose) and an organic solvent (terpineol) was applied on the masked surface of the substrate with a doctor blade, and subjected to heat treatment at 500° C. for 15 minutes to form a light absorbing porous film comprising metal oxide nanoparticles having a thickness of 150 to 200 nm. The above mentioned metal oxide nanoparticle paste contained ethyl cellulose, lauric acid, terpineol, and titanium oxide nanoparticle in a weight ratio of 1:4:0.3:0.1.
Then, a hollow sphere paste comprising the hollow spheres obtained in Preparation Example 1, a polymer binder (ethyl cellulose) and an organic solvent (terpineol) was applied over the light scattering porous film obtained above with a doctor blade, and subjected to heat treatment at 500° C. for 15 minutes to form a light scattering porous film having a thickness of 150 to 200 nm. The above mentioned hollow sphere paste contained ethyl cellulose, lauric acid, terpineol, and hollow sphere particles in a weight ratio of 1:4:0.3:0.1.
The resulting assembly was then dipped in 0.3 mM [Ru(4,4′-dicarboxy-2,2′-bipyridine)2(NCS)2] in ethanol for 12 hours to let the ruthenium complex adsorb on the surface of the light absorbing porous film as well as on the surface of the light scattering porous film, to obtain a photo-electrode.
An FTO coated glass substrate was prepared, and an area of 1.5 cm2 of the conductive surface thereof was masked using an adhesive tape, and a solution of H2PtCl6 was spin-coated thereon. After the adhesive tape was removed, the substrate was subjected to heat treatment at 500° C. for 30 minutes to produce a counter electrode.
An acetonitrile electrolyte solution containing LiI (0.5 M) and I (0.05 M) was injected into the space between the photo-electrode and the counter electrode obtained above and the resulting assembly was sealed using an adhesive epoxy resin to obtain a dye-sensitized solar cell, which is depicted in
A dye-sensitized solar cell was manufactured by the procedure of Example 1 except that the light scattering layer was not formed during the production of a photo-electrode.
A dye-sensitized solar cell was manufactured by the procedure of Example 1 except that commercially available titanium oxide nanoparticles having a mean particle size of 400 nm were used in place of the hollow sphere particles in forming the light scattering layer.
The surface of the hollow sphere particles obtained in Preparation Example 1, and the surface of the dissected section thereof were observed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results are shown in
The reflectance of the light scattering layer containing the hollow spheres obtained in Example 1 (30b of
As shown in
The structural properties of the hollow spheres were investigated using X-ray diffraction.
As shown in
The open circuit voltage, photocurrent density, energy conversion efficiency and fill factor of each of the dye-sensitized solar cells obtained in Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 to 4 were measured as described below. The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
(1) Open Circuit Voltage (V) and Photocurrent Density (mA/cm2)
The open circuit voltage and photocurrent density were measured using Keithley SMU2400.
(2) Energy Conversion Efficiency and Fill Factor (%)
The energy conversion efficiency was measured using 1.5 AM, 100 mW/cm2 solar simulator equipped with a xenon lamp (300 W, Oriel), AM 1.5 filter and Keithley SMU2400; and the fill factor was calculated from the energy conversion efficiency using the following equation:
wherein J and V denote Y- and X-axis values of an energy conversion efficiency curve, respectively, and Jsc and Voc denote Y- and X-axis intercept values, respectively.
The current-voltage characteristics were evaluated using a 100 mW/cm2 xenon lamp as a light source for each dye-sensitized solar cell.
As shown in Table 1, the dye-sensitized solar cell obtained in Comparative Example 1 exhibits a higher energy conversion efficiency than that obtained in Comparative Example 2.
As shown in Table 2, the dye-sensitized solar cell obtained in Example 1 exhibits a much higher energy conversion efficiency than those obtained in Comparative Examples 3 and 4.
Although the dye-sensitized solar cell prepared in Comparative Example 1 comprising the hollow spheres as a light absorbing layer has a good energy conversion efficiency, the dye-sensitized solar cell of Example 1 comprising the hollow spheres as a light scattering layer exhibits much better properties in terms of photocurrent density and the energy conversion efficiency.
Consequently, as can be seen from
While the embodiments of the subject invention have been described and illustrated, it is obvious that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit of the present invention which should be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2007-0073898 | Jul 2007 | KR | national |