An integrated device, incorporating a dye-sensitized solar cell and triplet-triplet annihilation up-conversion unit was produced, affording enhanced light harvesting, from a wider section of the solar spectrum. Under modest irradiation levels a significantly enhanced response to low energy photons was demonstrated, yielding a record figure of merit for dye-sensitized solar cells.
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Method Article
Integrating a Triplet-triplet Annihilation Up-conversion System to Enhance Dye-sensitized Solar Cell Response to Sub-bandgap Light
In This Article
Summary
Abstract
The poor response of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) to red and infrared light is a significant impediment to the realization of higher photocurrents and hence higher efficiencies. Photon up-conversion by way of triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA-UC) is an attractive technique for using these otherwise wasted low energy photons to produce photocurrent, while not interfering with the photoanodic performance in a deleterious manner. Further to this, TTA-UC has a number of features, distinct from other reported photon up-conversion technologies, which renders it particularly suitable for coupling with DSC technology. In this work, a proven high performance TTA-UC system, comprising a palladium porphyrin sensitizer and rubrene emitter, is combined with a high performance DSC (utilizing the organic dye D149) in an integrated device. The device shows an enhanced response to sub-bandgap light over the absorption range of the TTA-UC sub-unit resulting in the highest figure of merit for up-conversion assisted DSC performance to date.
Introduction
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have been proclaimed as a promising concept in affordable solar energy collection1-3. In spite of this enthusiasm, widespread commercialization has yet to occur. A number of reasons have been put forward for this, with one pressing issue being the relatively high energy of the absorption onset, limiting the achievable light harvesting efficiency of these devices4. Although this can be overcome, lowering the absorption onset is typically accompanied by a drop in open circuit voltage, which disproportionately erodes any gains in current density5, 6.
The general operation of DS....
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Protocol
1. DSC Fabrication
1.1. Working Electrode Preparation
- Clean one whole sheet of F:SnO2 coated glass (110 mm × 110 mm × 2.3 mm, <8 Ω/□) by sonication sequentially in soapy water, then acetone and finally ethanol (10 min each).
- Deposit a dense layer of TiO2 following the steps below:
- Dry glass using compressed air and heat glass to 450 °C on hotplate (conductive side up).
- Dilute Titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) (75 wt% in isopropanol) with ethanol in a 1:9 ratio.
- Spray the dilute solution onto heated glass from a distance of ~10....
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Results
Figures 3A - D display enhancement responses measured under different measurement conditions, with the effects discussed in more detail below. From the raw current density enhancements it should be clear that the results in Figure 4A and 4B are attributable to upconversion, with the peak current enhancement and IPCE enhancement matching well with the absorption spectrum of the sensitizer, attenuated by transmission through the active layer of the DSC.
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Discussion
This protocol provides a means to achieve photon up-conversion enhanced DSC and detail on how to correctly measure such a device. The FoM allows for the simple calculation of anticipated ΔJSC improvements to be expected at different light intensities, including at 1 sun. The values shown here are invariant with light intensity (inset of Figure 4), as per expectation when the system is below its saturation threshold33. With the FoM, we can standardize the enhancement effect of T.......
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Disclosures
There is nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
A.N. acknowledges contributions from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF). This research project is funded by the Australian Solar Institute (6-F020 and A-023), with contributions from The New South Wales Government and the University of Sydney. Aspects of this research were supported under Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (DP110103300). Equipment was purchased with support from the Australian Research Council (LE0668257).
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Materials
| Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| (tetrakis(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)-6’-amino-7’-nitro-tetrakisquinoxalino[2,3-b'7,8-b''12,13-b'''17,18-b''''-porphyrinato) palladium(II)) | in house | in house | Chem. Commun., 4851–4853 (2007) |
| 1,2-dimethyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide | Solaronix | 33150 | Material warning: Irritant |
| 405 nm longpass filter | Semrock | BLP01-405R-25 | - |
| 670 nm laser | Thorlabs | LDS5 + CPS198 | - |
| Acetone | Chemsupply | AA008-20L-P | Material warning: Flammable |
| Acetonitrile | Sigma | 271004 | Material warning: Flammable |
| Alumina | Alfa Aesar | 12733 | |
| Alumina | Leeco | 810-782 | |
| Back filling chamber | Sistema | 1303 | Klip it round, modified |
| Benzene | Scharlau | BE0033 | Material warning: Toxic |
| BNC cable | Jaycar | RG- 59U | |
| Cerasolzer | MBR | CS186 | |
| Chopper wheel | Thorlabs | MC1000A | |
| Control software | in house | in house | Written in LabVIEW |
| Current Amplifier | Standford Research | SR 570 | |
| D149 dye | 1m | OSO149 | |
| Dental burr | Priority dental supplies | 835.104.008 | |
| Detergent | Palmolive | Original | |
| Diamond wheel | Frameco | 14220 | |
| Drill | Dremmel | 220 | |
| Dynamic dignal acquisition device | National Instruments | USB-4431 | Analog to Digital |
| Ethanol | Univar | 214 | Material warning: Flammable |
| Glovebox | IT systems | ||
| H2PtCl6 | Sigma | 334472 | Material warning: corrosive |
| Hot melt adhesive gasket | Solaronix | Meltronic 1170-25 | Surlyn |
| Hot melt adhesive gasket | Solaronix | Meltronix 1170-60 | Surlyn |
| Hotplate | Harry Gestigkeit | PR 5 3T / PZ28-3T | |
| Hotplate | IKA | RCT basic | |
| Image analysis software | National Institutes for Health | Image-J | |
| Iodine | Sigma | 326143 | Material warning: corrosive |
| Laser engraver | Universal Laser Systems | PLS6WM | |
| Liquid Nitrogen | Air Liquide | ||
| Lithium Iodide | Aldrich | 518018 | Material warning: toxic |
| Methoxypropionitrile | Sigma | 65290 | Material warning: Flammable |
| Mirror | Thorlabs | PF10-03-P01 | |
| Mirror mount | Thorlabs | KM100 | |
| Monochromator | Spectral Products | CM110 | |
| Neutral density filters | Edmund Industrial Optics | 64-352 | |
| Parabolic mirror | Newport | 50329AL, 50338AL | |
| Photodiode | Newport | 918D-UV-OD3 | |
| Power meter | Newport | 1936-C | |
| Rubrene | Sigma | 551112 | |
| Semi-automatic screen printer | Keywell | KY-500FH | |
| Spray pyrolyser | Glaskeller | ||
| Tape | 3M | Magic Tape | |
| Terminal block | Jaycar | HM3194 | |
| tert-Butanol | Sigma | 360538 | Material warning: Flammable |
| TiCl4 | Sigma | 89545 | Material warning: corrosive |
| Tile | Johnson tiles | ||
| Tile cutter | DTA | DTA-310 | |
| TiO2 paste | Dyesol | NR18-T | - |
| Titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) (75% in isopropanol) | Aldrich | 325252 | Material warning: Flammable |
| Ultrasonic soldering iron | MBR | USS-9200 | |
| UV cure epoxy | Dymax | 425 | Material warning: Irritant |
| UV cure system | Dymax | BlueWave 50 | |
| UV Visible Spectrophotometer | Varian Cary | 1E | |
| Vacuum cuvette | Custom made | Custom made | |
| Vacuum pump | Rotary backed diffusion pump | ||
| Wipes | Kimtech | 34120KC | Kimwipes |
| Xe lamp | Energetiq | LDLSTM EQ-1500 | White light source |
References
- O'Regan, B., Grätzel, M. A low-cost, high-efficiency solar-cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films. Nature. 353, 737-740 (1991).
- Grätzel, M. Photoelectrochemical cells. Nature. 414 (6861), 338-344 (2001).
- Hagfeldt, A., Boschloo, G., Sun, L., Kloo, L., Pettersson, H.
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