• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 1998

In the dye sensitization for the solar energy conversion with a photoelectrochemical cell containing allylthiourea, the time profile of the sensitized photocurrent showed a rise and fall with the irradiation time. The dye solution before and after irradiation was analyzed by means of spectroscopic methods. A new precipitation reaction between sensitizer and supersensitizer and photobleaching of the dye appeared to be involved in the decreased photocurrent.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.170-173
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• 2006

Recently, with increasing efficiency of DSC (photo-electrochemical using a nano-particle), The Performance of DSC solar generation system also needs improvement. The approach consists of a Fly-back DC-DC (transfer ratio 1:10) converter to boost the DSC cell voltage to 300VDC. The four switch (MOSFET) inverter is employed to produce 220V, 60Hz AC outputs. High performance, easy manufacturability, lower component count., safety and cost are addressed. Protection and diagnostic features form an important part of the design. Another highlight of the proposed design is the control strategy, which allows the inverter to adapt to the: requirements of the load as well as the power source. A unique aspect of the design is the use of the DSP TMS320LF2406 to control the inverter by current and voltage feed-back. Efficient and smooth control of the: power drawn from the DSC Cell is achieved by controlling the front end DC-DC converter in current mode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.161-161
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• 2011

Titanium (IV) dioxide (TiO2) is one of the most attractive d-block transition metal functional oxides. Many applications of TiO2 such as dye-sensitized solar cells and photocatalyst have been widely investigated. To utilize solar energy efficiently, TiO2 should be well-aligned with a high surface area and promote the charge separation as well as electron transport. Herein, the TiO2 nanotubes were successfully fabricated by a template-directed method. The electrospun PEO(Polyethylene oxide, Molecular weight, 400k)fibers were used as a soft template for coating with titanium dioxide using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. The deposition was conducted onto a template at 50$^{\circ}C$ by using titaniumisopropoxide [Ti(OCH(CH3)2)4; TTIP] as precursors of TiO2. While the as-deposited TiO2 layers onto PEO fibers were completely amorphous with atomic layer deposition, the TiO2 layers after calcination at 500$^{\circ}C$ for 1 h were properly converted into polycrystalline nanostructured hallow TiO2 nanotube. The TiO2 nanotube with high surface area can be easily handled and reclaimed for use in future applications related to solar cell fabrications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.71-71
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• 2011

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have drawn great academic attention due to their potential as low-cost renewable energy sources. DSCs contain a nanostructured TiO2 photoanode, which is a key-component for high conversion efficiency. Particularly, one-dimensional (1-D) nanostructured photoanodes can enhance the electron transport for the efficient collection to the conducting substrate in competition with the recombination processes. This is because photoelectron colletion is determined by trapping/detrapping events along the site of the electron traps (defects, surface states, grain boundaries, and self-trapping). Therefore, 1-D nanostructured photoanodes are advantageous for the fast electron transport due to their desirable features of greatly reduced intercrystalline contacts with specified directionality. In particular, anodic TiO2 nanotube (NT) electrodes recently have been intensively explored owing to their ideal structure for application in DSCs. Besides the enhanced electron transport properties resulted from the 1-D structure, highly ordered and vertically oriented nanostructure of anodic TiO2 NT can contribute additional merits, such as enhanced electrolyte diffusion, better interfacial contact with viscous electrolytes. First, to confirm the advantages of 1-D nanostructured material for the photoelectron collection, we compared the electron transport and charge recombination characteristics between nanoparticle (NP)- and nanorod (NR)-based photoanodes in DSCs by the stepped light-induced transient measurements of photocurrent and voltage (SLIM-PCV). We confirmed that the electron lifetime of the NR-based photoanode was much longer than that of the NP-based photoanode. In addition, highly ordered and vertically oriented TiO2 NT photoanodes were prepared by electrochemical anodization method. We compared the photovoltaic properties of DSCs utilizing TiO2 NT photoanodes prepared by one-step anodization and two-step anodization. And, to reduce the charge recombination rate, energy barrier layer (ZnO, Al2O3)-coated TiO2 NTs also applied in DSC. Furthermore, we applied the TiO2 NT photoanode in DSCs using a viscous electrolyte, i.e., cobalt bipyridyl redox electrolyte, and confirmed that the pore structure of NT array can enhance the performances of this viscous electrolyte.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.1081-1088
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• 2013

Two new metal-free organic dyes bridged by anthracene-mediated ${\pi}$-conjugated moieties were successfully synthesized for use in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). A N,N-diphenylthiophen-2-amine unit in these dyes acts as an electron donor, while a (E)-2-cyano-3-(thiophen-2-yl)acrylic acid group acts as an electron acceptor and an anchoring group to the $TiO_2$ electrode. The photovoltaic properties of (E)-2-cyano-3-(5-((10-(5-(diphenylamino)thiophen-2-yl)anthracen-9-yl)ethynyl)thiophen-2-yl)acrylic acid (DPATAT) and (E)-2-cyano-3-(5'-((10-(5-(diphenylamino)thiophen-2-yl)anthracen-9-yl)ethynyl)-2,2'-bithiophen-5-yl)acrylic acid (DPATABT) were investigated to identify the effect of conjugation length between electron donor and acceptor on the DSSC performance. By introducing an anthracene moiety into the dye structure, together with a triple bond and thiophene moieties for fine-tuning of molecular configurations and for broadening the absorption spectra, the short-circuit photocurrent densities ($J_{sc}$), and open-circuit photovoltages ($V_{oc}$) of DSSCs were improved. The improvement of $J_{sc}$ in DSSC made of DPATABT might be attributed to much broader absorption spectrum and higher molecular extinction coefficient (${\varepsilon}$) in the visible wavelength range. The DPATABT-based DSSC showed the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.34% (${\eta}_{max}$ = 3.70%) under AM 1.5 illumination ($100mWcm^{-2}$) in a photoactive area of $0.41cm^2$, with the $J_{sc}$ of $7.89mAcm^{-2}$, the $V_{oc}$ of 0.59 V, and the fill factor (FF) of 72%. In brief, the solar cell performance with DPATABT was found to be better than that of DPATAT-based DSSC.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.126-130
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• 2011

Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) is an important part in the construction of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) because of its low sheet resistance, sufficient light transparent ability and high photoelectrical response as a porous photo-electrode material of DSCs. However, the use of TCO for the two DSC electrodes can result in significant cost increase for the less effective DSCs compared to Si based solar cell. Therefore, the replacement of TCO is required for the commercial production of DSCs. In this study, TCO electrodes are replaced by stainless steel mesh. The 3.44[%] efficiency of the prepared TCO-less DSCs sample was obtained.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2003

Polymer electrolyte membranes are developed for the applications to facilitated transport membranes, fuel cells and solar cells. The polymer electrolyte membranes containing silver salt show the remarkably high separation performance for olefin/paraffin mixture in the solid state; the propylene permeance is 45 GPU and the ideal selectivity of propylene/propane is 15,000. For fuel cell membranes, the effects of the presence and size of the proton transport channels on the proton conductivity and methanol permeability were investigated. The cell performance for dye-sensitized solar cells employing polymer electrolytes are measured under light illumination. The overall energy conversion efficiency reaches 5.44 % at 10 ㎽/$\textrm{cm}^2$, to our knowledge the highest value ever reported in the polymer electrolytes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.440-440
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• 2009

Semiconductor nanowires offer exciting possibilities as components of solar cells and have already found applications as active elements in organic, dye-sensitized, quantum-dot sensitized, liquid-junction, and inorganic solid-state devices. Among many semiconductors, silicon is by far the dominant material used for worldwide photovoltaic energy conversion and solar cell manufacture. For silicon wire to be used for solar device, well aligned wire arrays need to be fabricated vertically or horizontally. Macroscopic silicon wire arrays suitable for photovoltaic applications have been commonly grown by the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process using metal catalysts such as Au, Ni, Pt, Cu. In the case, the impurity issues inside wire originated from metal catalyst are inevitable, leading to lowering the efficiency of solar cell. To escape from the problem, the wires of purity of wafer are the best for high efficiency of photovoltaic device. The fabrication of wire arrays by the electrochemical etching of silicon wafer with photolithography can solve the contamination of metal catalyst. In this presentation, we introduce silicon wire arrays by electrochemical etching method and then fabrication methods of radial p-n junction wire array solar cell and the various merits compared with conventional silicon solar cells.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.94-99
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• 2017

Dinickel-silicide $(Ni_2Si)/glass$ was employed as a counter electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) device. $Ni_2Si$ was formed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at $700^{\circ}C$ for 15 seconds of a 50 nm-Ni/50 nm-Si/glass structure. For comparison, $Ni_2Si$ on quartz was also prepared through conventional electric furnace annealing (CEA) at $800^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. XRD, XPS, and EDS line scanning of TEM were used to confirm the formation of $Ni_2Si$. TEM and CV were employed to confirm the microstructure and catalytic activity. Photovoltaic properties were examined using a solar simulator and potentiostat. XRD, XPS, and EDS line scanning results showed that both CEA and RTA successfully led to tne formation of nano $thick-Ni_2Si$ phase. The catalytic activity of $CEA-Ni_2Si$ and $RTA-Ni_2Si$ with respect to Pt were 68 % and 56 %. Energy conversion efficiencies (ECEs) of DSSCs with $CEA-Ni_2Si$ and $RTA-Ni_2Si$catalysts were 3.66 % and 3.16 %, respectively. Our results imply that nano-thick $Ni_2Si$ may be used to replace Pt as a reduction catalytic layer for a DSSCs. Moreover, we show that nano-thick $Ni_2Si$ can be made available on a low-cost glass substrate via the RTA process.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.245-245
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• 2007