• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.988-993
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• 2004

Luminescence characteristics of Ag-doped ZnO as the quantum dot materials to increasing the efficiency on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) have been studied. Ag doped ZnO powder was produced by the self-sustaining combustion process using ultrasonic spraying heating method. Luminescence wavelength region of the ZnO by Ag doping was shifted to longer wavelength. Tn the case of the Ag doped ZnO powder, broad luminescence spectrum centered on 600nm was observed. On the other hand, we compared PL data of RTA treated ZnO:Ag film at various temperatures because the front electrode of solar cell was in need of the sintering process. In XRD and PL data for RTA treated film at the 500$^{\circ}C$ showed good property. And, it was found that the grain size wasn't growing but only optical property was changed. According to the result of XRD, PL, absorption, emission spectrum and DV-X${\alpha}$ used in theoretical calculation, it is considered to be possible to use Ag doped ZnO as quantum dot material for improving DSC efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.276.2-276.2
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• 2016

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are promising candidates for light-to-energy conversion devices due to their low-cost, easy fabrication and relative high conversion efficiency. An important component of DSCs is counter electrode (CE) collect electrons from external circuit and reduct I3- to I-. The conventional CEs are thermally decomposed Pt on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates, which have shown excellent performance and stability. However, Pt is not suitable in terms of cost effect. In this report, we demonstrated that nickel sulfide thin films by atomic layer deposition (ALD)-using Nickel(1-dimethylamino-2-methyl-2-butanolate)2 and hydrogen sulfide at low temperatures of $90-200^{\circ}C$-could be good CEs in DSCs. Notably, ALD allows the thin films to grow with good reproducibility, precise thickness control and excellent conformality at the angstrom or monolayer level. The nickel sulfide films were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, hall measurements and cyclic voltammetry. The ALD grown nickel sulfide thin films showed high catalytic activity for the reduction of I3- to I- in DSC. The DSCs with the ALD-grown nickel sulfide thin films as CEs showed the solar cell efficiency of 7.12% which is comparable to that of the DSC with conventional Pt coated counter electrode (7.63%).

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 2013

Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) allows light transmission and the application of various colors that make it especially suitable for building-integrated PV (BIPV) application. In order to apply DSC module into windows, it has to be panelized: DSC module should be protected with reinforced glass to the entire surface. Up to date, it seems to be common to make double glazing with DSC modules with air gaps between the glasses and the DSC modules. Few research has been conducted on the characteristics of various glazing types with DSC modules. This study aims to analyze the electrical performance of DSC modules according to panelizing method for glazing unit with DSC modules. The prototype of the DSC glazing that applied silicone filler between DSC modules and glasses was developed. The electrical performances of this type of DSC glazing with the filler and rather conventional double glazing with DSC modules were compared. Their performances were measured using a solar simulator that is suitable for DSC performance testing. The results indicated that the electrical performance of the filler type DSC glazing improved by 7% compared to that of the conventional DSC double glazing type.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.465-466
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• 2009

Dye-sensitized Solar Cell (DSC) is a new type of solar cell by using photocatalytic properties of $TiO_2$. The electric potential distribution in DSCs has played a major role in the operation of such cells. $TiO_2$ thin films were deposited on the ITO substrate by Nd:YAG Pulsed Laser Deposition(PLD) at room temperature and post-deposition annealing at $500^{\circ}C$ in flowing $O_2$ atmosphere for 1hour. The structural properties of $TiO_2$ thin films have investigated by X-ray diffraction(XRD). We manufactured DSC unit cells then I-V and efficiency were tested by solar simulator.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.8
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• pp.1153-1158
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• 2012

Niobium oxide ($Nb_2O_5$) has a strong chemical coherence and good electrical conductivity. Therefore, this material is helpful to enhance the performance of the dye sensitized solar cells (DSC) by improving the electron mobility. In this study, $Nb_2O_5$ was mixed with $TiO_2$ and this compound was applied to the DSC to improve its performance. As a result, the current density of the DSC using the $Nb_2O_5-TiO_2$ compound on the photoelectrode was increased, because the internal resistance concerned to the electron transfer in the photoelectrode of DSC was decreased. However, large amount of the $Nb_2O_5$ induces the decrease of the efficiency of the DSC because the surface area to attach dye molecules is decreased due to the large particle of $Nb_2O_5$. Therefore, it is important to optimize the mixture ratio of the $Nb_2O_5-TiO_2$ compound for maximizing the performance of the DSC. Finally, the most optimum performance of the DSC was shown in case of the $Nb_2O_5$ concentration of 10 wt% of the $Nb_2O_5-TiO_2$ compound.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.187-191
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• 2006

Sputter deposition followed by surface treatment was studied using reactive RF plasma as a method for preparing titanium oxide $(TiO_2)$ films on the FTO $(SnO_2: F)$ substrate for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Anatase structure $TiO_2$ films deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering under the conditions of $Ar/O_2(5%)$ mixtures, RF power of 600W and substrate temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ were surface-treated by inductive coupled plasma (ICP) with $Ar/O_2$ mixtures at substrate temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, and thus the films were applied to the DSCs. We have chosen a solar cell width as a variable of a large-scaled DSCs and confirmed electric characteristics of an individual cell. As a result, the higher the internal resistance of DSC becomes, the wider the width gets. Internal resistance makes it difficult to collect photoelectron generated from dye. Ultimately up sizing DSC causes the increase of internal resistance and then has a bad effect on the cell characteristics.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.803-807
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• 2008

A making process of DSC(dye sensitized solar cell) was presented. In general, Photo electrodes of DSC was made by using colloid paste of nano $TiO_2$ and processing of Doctor-blade printing and high temperature sintering for porous structure. These methods lead to cracks on $TiO_2$ surface and ununiform of $TiO_2$ thickness. This phenomenon is one factor that makes low efficiency to cells. After $TiO_2$ printing on TCO glass, a physical vibration was adapted for reducing ununiform of $TiO_2$ thickness. And a thermal treatment at low temperature(under $75^{\circ}C$) was adapted for reducing cracks on $TiO_2$ surface. In this paper, we have designed and manufactured an ultrasonic circuit (100W, frequency and duty variable) and a thermal equipment. Then, we have optimized forcing time, frequency and duty of ultrasonic irradiation and thermal heating for surface treatment of photo-electrode of DSC. In I-V characteristic test of DSC, ultrasonic and thermal treated DSC shows 19% improved its efficiency against monolithic DSC. And it shows stability of light-harvesting from drastically change of light irradiation test.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.1295-1296
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• 2007

A lot of researches about dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) are recently being conducted. Because DSC has several advantages to pass the limits of silicon solar cells such as a low manufacturing expense, a simple manufacturing process and its transparency. But most researches on DSC are still conducted about the unit cell and laboratory-centered. That is, present researches on DSC are not practical. Therefore, researches about large area cells and modules have to be prerequisites for DSC to have the practicality. Characteristics of large area DSC are so different from those of small area DSC in aspect of fill factor and efficiency. In this study, we made an experiment on finding suitable size of DSC that has the most effective power according to the variation of active area. In detail, the experiment was conducted about the optimum ratio of length to width and we introduced the ratio of active area to non-active area to find the active area which has the best output. Because small DSC doesn‘t have the best output in comparison with total area of cell although the smaller DSC has the better efficiency. As a result, we achieved the optimum ratio of length to width of 8:3 and active area of $8cm^2$ as the optimum size for upscaling DSC.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.208-212
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• 2013

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have taken much attention due to their low cost and easy fabrication method compare to silicon solar cells. But research on cost effective DSC is prerequisite for commercialization. Fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) which have been commonly used for electrode substrate as electron collector occupied most percentage of manufacturing cost. Therefore we studied FTO-less DSC using sputtered Ti deposited glass as photoelectrode instead of FTO to reduce manufacturing cost. Ti films sputtered on the glass for different time, 5 to 20 minutes with decreasing sheet resistance as deposition time increases. A light source illuminated to counter electrode in order to overcome opaque Ti films. The efficiency of DSC (Ti20) made Ti sputtered glass for 20 min as photoelectrode was 5.87%. There are no significant difference with conventional cell despite lower manufacturing cost.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.100-106
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• 2009

A novel 8 V DC power source with an external series-parallel connection of 50 Dye-sensitized Solar Cells (DSCs) has been proposed. One DSC has the optimized length to width ratio of $5.2{\times}2.6\;cm$ and an active area $8\;cm^2$ ($4.62{\times}1.73\;cm$) which attained a conversion efficiency of 4.02%. From the electrochemical impedance spectroscopic analysis, it was found that the resistance elements related to the Pt electrode and electrolyte interface behave like that of diode and the series resistance corresponds to the sum of the other resistance elements. Surface morphology and sheet resistance of Pt counter electrode did not degrade the performance of the cell. This novel 8V-0.33A DC power source shows stable performance with an energy conversion efficiency of 4.24% under 1 sun illumination (AM 1.5, Pin of $100\;mW/cm^2$).