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The Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Stability and Performance Study Using Different Electrolytes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2011

Sailaja Radhakrishnan ,
Lakshmi V. Munukutla ,
Aung Htun  and
Arunachalanadar M. Kannan
Sailaja Radhakrishnan
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, Department of Engineering Technology, 6075 S. Williams Campus Loop, TECH Building, Mesa, AZ 85212, U.S.A.
Lakshmi V. Munukutla
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, Department of Engineering Technology, 6075 S. Williams Campus Loop, TECH Building, Mesa, AZ 85212, U.S.A.
Aung Htun
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, Department of Engineering Technology, 6075 S. Williams Campus Loop, TECH Building, Mesa, AZ 85212, U.S.A.
Arunachalanadar M. Kannan
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, Department of Engineering Technology, 6075 S. Williams Campus Loop, TECH Building, Mesa, AZ 85212, U.S.A.
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Abstract

The overarching goal of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) is to improve photovoltaic performance and their long-term stability for use in practical applications because of their simple fabrication technology at a reasonable cost. The focus of this paper is to achieve cell stability and also to improve solar energy conversion efficiency experimenting with different electrolytes. The electrolyte’s role is critical to sustain the DSS cell performance over time to instill cell stability. Four different electrolytes, Iodolyte R-150, AN-50, PN-50 and MPN-100, are experimented in this work for fabricating the dye-sensitized solar cells for studying both the stability and efficiency of the DSSCs.

The electrolyte selection was made using the following key electrolyte parameters; lower viscosity for easier injection into the cell, lower vapor pressure and higher boiling point to minimize electrolyte evaporation, wide redox window to generate sufficient donating electrons to the dye, lower cost and non-toxicity. Electrolytes with higher concentration of Iodolyte were chosen for this study to widen redox potential window. These are Iodide based redox electrolytes and are made with 100 mM of tri-iodide in 3-methoxypropionitrile. The results of this investigation revealed that the cell with Iodolyte R-150 electrolyte achieved improved performance having an efficiency of 10.2% when compared to the reference cell efficiency of 8.4% with Iodolyte R-50. These cells were stabilized over a time of 4 weeks. The fill factor of the cell changed about 10% and the internal resistance decreased from 6.7 to 4.3 Ω. The results of this experiment demonstrated reduced internal resistance, and improved fill factor contributed to higher cell efficiency and stability. The results of the work presented in this paper support the argument that electrolytes with higher Iodolyte concentration can enhance the cell efficiency and stability along with scaling down of the cell size.

Keywords

photovoltaicRusemiconducting
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1322: Symposium B – Third-Generation and Emerging Solar-Cell Technologies , 2011 , mrss11-1322-b08-41
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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References

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