Elsevier

Nano Energy

Volume 17, October 2015, Pages 206-215
Nano Energy

Rapid Communication
High performance dye-sensitized solar cells with inkjet printed ionic liquid electrolyte

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.08.019Get rights and content

Abstract

We successfully inkjet printed an ionic liquid electrolyte in the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) as a part of a new cell fabrication sequence that eliminates drilling holes in the DSSC substrates. The inkjet printing of ionic liquid electrolyte does not only reduce the overall fabrication cost since no additional thermoplastic sealant and glass cover are required to seal the cells, but also removes one extra cell sealing step present in the traditional cell sealing process. The dye-sensitized DSSCs fabricated with printed electrolyte exhibited 6% enhancement in overall cell conversion efficiency compare to the reference cells. More significantly, the printed electrolyte based solar cells maintained 100% of the initial performance in an accelerated ageing test for 1120 h that was performed under full sun light intensity at 35 °C. These results provide a solid base to develop this process further for the production of cheaper, more robust, large area DSSC solar panels.

Graphical abstract

‘Dye sensitized solar cells were fabricated without electrolyte filling holes in the FTO coated glass substrates by inkjet-printing the electrolyte. The technique provides an opportunity to reduce the overall fabrication costs while preserving high performance and good stability.’

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Section snippets

Materials

TiO2 nanocrystalline paste (18-NRT, 20 nm) and TiO2 scattering paste (WER2-0, 400 nm) were purchased from Dyesol. Chloroplatinic acid hydrate (H2PtCl4·6H2O, purity 99.9%), Guanidine Thiocyanate (GuSCN, purity>99%), 1 Methylbenzimidazole (NMBI, purity 99%), 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP, purity 96%) and all the solvents (Sulfolane 99% purity, 2-Propanol 99.5% anhydrous, Acetonitrile 99.8% anhydrous, 3-Methoxypropionitrile 98% purity and N, N Dimethylformamide 99.8% purity) were obtained from Sigma

Acknowledgment

Ghufran Hashmi thanks Academy of Finland (grant number 287641) for post-doctoral research grant and grateful to Dr S. M. Zakeeruddin and Professor Michael Gratzel for the useful discussions during the work and Armi Tiihonen for the help in cell ageing experiment. This work was also financed from the European Research Council for an Advanced Research Grant (ARG 247404) funded under “Mesolight” project. M. O thanks Select+(Environomical pathways for sustainable energy services) for doctoral

Ghufran Hashmi completed his D.Sc. (Tech) degree in Advanced Energy Systems from Aalto University-Finland in 2014. He has recently been awarded a 3 year post-doctoral research grant from Academy of Finland to work on flexible dye sensitized solar cells and perovskite solar cells. He is keenly involved in development of advanced printable precursor solutions, inks and pastes for energy applications and their deposition through established printing techniques. His research interests include nano

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      In 2014, Seo et al. used PEO and TiO2 nanoparticles to prepare printable electrolytes, and the relevant solar cell reached an efficiency of 9.2%, as well as excellent durability under the light-soaking test [25]. Moreover, inkjet printing was introduced to the fabrication of hole-free DSSCs in 2015; the efficiencies of these solar cells were obviously better compared to the devices assembled by the traditional sealing process [26]. Very recently, Lee's group developed two kinds of polymer blend electrolytes (i.e., PEO/PVDF and PEO/PMMA); by properly regulating the polymer blend ratios, these electrolytes could be readily printed onto the photoelectrodes by doctor blading, and moreover, quasi-solid-state DSSCs with outstanding performance were obtained [27,28].

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    Ghufran Hashmi completed his D.Sc. (Tech) degree in Advanced Energy Systems from Aalto University-Finland in 2014. He has recently been awarded a 3 year post-doctoral research grant from Academy of Finland to work on flexible dye sensitized solar cells and perovskite solar cells. He is keenly involved in development of advanced printable precursor solutions, inks and pastes for energy applications and their deposition through established printing techniques. His research interests include nano materials for energy applications, upscaling and long term stability of dye sensitized solar cells and perovskite solar cells.

    Merve Özkan (M.Sc.) was graduated in 2012 from Information and Automation Engineering in University of Bremen. She has continued as a doctoral student in the SELECT+ doctoral programme (Environomical Pathways for Sustainable Energy Services) at Aalto University under supervision of Professor Jouni Paltakari. Her research work focuses on development of solar cells on flexible fiber based substrates.

    Janne Halme has D.Sc. (Tech.) degree in engineering physics from Helsinki University of Technology and is currently a University Lecturer at the Aalto University School of Science. He has carried out both fundamental and applied research of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) with a particular focus on flexible printed devices and their advanced performance characterization techniques. His current research interests are in electrochemical energy conversion and storage, building integrated photovoltaics and ambient energy harvesting.

    Dr Katarina Dimic-Misic is currently working as post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Forest Product Technology, Aalto University-Finland. She received her D. Sc (Tech) degree in the field of rheology of complex suspensions from Aalto University in 2014. Her research interests include rheological properties of fluids and their processing at industrial scale.

    Shaik M Zakeeruddin received his Ph.D. from Osmania University, India in 1989. He then joined Prof. Grätzel’s group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) as a post-doctoral fellow, remaining there as a senior scientist. The main areas of his research are nanomaterials, solar energy conversion, electrochromic displays, ionic liquids, lithium ion batteries, light-emitting diodes and biosensors. He has published over 280 peer-reviewed scientific papers and holds more than 20 patents. These contributions have often had a pioneering character and have been awarded a very large impact, with over 29,400 citations so far with h-index of 85. In a recently published top-100 chemist list of decade by Thomson Reuters, ranked 53rd for the chemist list and 29th for the material scientists list. (http://sciencewatch.com/dr/sci/misc/Top100Chemists2000–10/). Since March 2014 appointed as Distinguished Adjunct Professor at KAU, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

    Professor Jouni Paltakari (D.Sc. Tech) has a chair in paper converting and packaging technology at Aalto University. His research group focuses on unit operations and technologies for adding value for fibre based substrates in converting processes and packaging applications. Pigment coating solutions and new material combinations consisting e.g. nano-cellulose as a renewable biomaterial are of great interest in research and education. In addition, functional and intelligent solutions and products are also covered.

    Professor Michael Grätzel of Physical Chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, he directs there the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research in the field of energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems and their use for the solar generation of electricity and fuels as well as lithium ions batteries. He received numerous awards including the Albert Einstein World Award of Science, the Paul Karrer Gold Medal, the 2010 Millennium Technology Grand Prize, and the 2009 Balzan Prize. Author of over 1300 publications, that received over 160’000 citations, and several books, he is a member of the German Academy of Science (Leopoldina) and other learned societies.

    Peter D. Lund is Professor in Advanced Energy Systems at Aalto University-Finland. He is also Visiting Professor in Wuhan, China. His primary interest is on sustainable energy systems, including nanotechnology for energy appications, solar cells and fuel cells. Dr. Lund is active in senior roles with EU initiatives in energy: he chaired the Advisory Group Energy of E.C. 2002–06 and chairs the Energy Steering Panel of European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC). He has served in advisory role in many energy programs world-wide. Dr. Lund is Co-Editor for Global Challenges, Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, and Energy Research.

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