Morphology Effects in Dye Solar Cells

Solid state Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (ssDSCs) [1] are very promising photovoltaic devices, potentially stable, economical, and easy to integrate into existing architectural elements. A ssDSC is based on the fine intermixing between an electron- and a hole-conductor, often a thin nanostructured titanium dioxide layer onto which a monolayer of molecular organic dye (generally Ru-based) is chemisorbed, and an organic material (usually P3HT or Spiro- OmeTAD). The whole nanostructured composite, 2- 3 μm thick, is sandwiched between two electrodes and encapsulated by a transparent sealant. Despite an intense investigation aimed at improving the macroscopic performance of these devices, many fundamental aspects of their behavior still need to be addressed. In particular charge diffusion through the nanostructured composite film must to be understood and modelled to drive the optimization of the device. The entire cell is usually modelled using drift-diffusion equations for both electrons and holes in an effective medium framework. By effective medium we mean that the real structure of the mesoporous materials are not explicitly taken into account in the model, and an effective material is used instead [2]. However, the real structure between electron- and hole-conductor materials is far more complex.     «

Solid state Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (ssDSCs) [1] are very promising photovoltaic devices, potentially stable, economical, and easy to integrate into existing architectural elements. A ssDSC is based on the fine intermixing between an electron- and a hole-conductor, often a thin nanostructured titanium dioxide layer onto which a monolayer of molecular organic dye (generally Ru-based) is chemisorbed, and an organic material (usually P3HT or Spiro- OmeTAD). The whole nanostructured comp...     »