Risbridger, T A G*; Castro, F A; Cameron, P J* (2012) Two-dimensional photocurrent and transmission mapping of aqueous dye-sensitized solar cells. J. Phys. Chem. C, 116 (42). pp. 22253-22260.

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Abstract

There is currently renewed interest in aqueous dye sensitized solar cells (DSC). Water ingress in conventional DSC leads to a loss of efficiency, one solution to this problem is to optimize the cells to work in the presence of water. The aim is to create a stable cell and to avoid the need for buffer layers and encapsulation which increase module cost. Water containing electrolytes generally give lower photocurrents than those based on organic solvents, a problem that has in part been attributed to poor pore filling by the aqueous electrolyte. Here two sets of cells have been made which are identical except for the nature of the solvent (water or acetonitrile). Photocurrent mapping has been used to compare spatially resolved inhomogeneities in the current density. High-resolution transmission mapping has been used to decouple dye coverage and film thickness from electrolyte permeation. Filling cells using heating and vacuum was found to improve water electrolyte permeation. Importantly it was found that dye desorption occurred adjacent to the filling holes in both acetonitrile and water based cells; with significantly more dye desorbed in the water based cells. The loss of dye was attributed to desorption by the tert-butyl pyridine base in the electrolyte.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Advanced Materials Advanced Materials > Photovoltaics
Identification number/DOI:	10.1021/jp308238p
Last Modified:	02 Feb 2018 13:14
URI:	http://eprintspublications.npl.co.uk/id/eprint/5650

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