Open AccessMethod to Protect Charge Recombination in the Back-Contact Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell
Author(s) -
Beomjin Yoo,
Kangjin Kim,
Doh Kwon Lee,
Kyungkon Kim,
Min Jae Ko,
Yong Hyun Kim,
Won Mok Kim,
Nam Gyu Park
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.18.00a395
Subject(s) - photocurrent , materials science , thin film , solar cell , dye sensitized solar cell , substrate (aquarium) , electrode , optoelectronics , nanocrystalline material , sputtering , transmittance , optics , nanotechnology , electrolyte , chemistry , oceanography , physics , geology
We prepared a back-contact dye-sensitized solar cell and investigated effect of the sputter deposited thin TiO₂ film on the back-contact ITO electrode on photovoltaic property. The nanocrystalline TiO₂ layer with thickness of about 11 μm formed on a plain glass substrate in the back-contact structure showed higher optical transmittance than that formed on an ITO-coated glass substrate, which led to an improved photocurrent density by about 6.3%. However, photovoltage was found to decrease from 817 mV to 773 mV. The photovoltage recovered after deposition of a 35 nm-thick thin TiO₂ film on the surface of the back-contact ITO electrode. Little difference in time constant for electron transport was found for the back-contact ITO electrodes with and without the sputter deposited thin TiO₂ film. Whereas, time constant for charge recombination increased after introduction of the thin TiO₂ film, indicating that such a thin TiO₂ film protected back electron transfer, associated with the recovery of photovoltage. As the result of the improved photocurrent density without deterioration of photovoltage, the back-contact dye-sensitized solar cell exhibited 13.6% higher efficiency than the ITO-coated glass substrate-based dye-sensitized solar cell.