• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.160-160
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• 2013

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted much attention because of their moderate light-to-electricity conversion efficiency, easy fabrication, and low cost. At present, platinum (Pt) is used as a counter electrode in DSSCs. However, it is found that Pt dissolves in iodide electrolyte solutions and creates chemical compound such as PtI4 and H2PtI6. Carbon based materials are one of candidates for a counter electrode of DSSCs. We prepare two types of graphite oxides by different chemical treatments; original graphite oxide, hydrazine treated graphite oxide. Each graphite oxide and magnesium nitrate dispersed in deionized water are prepared as solutions for electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Each graphite oxide electrode is deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate by EPD method. Structural and electrochemical properties of each electrode are investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.731-736
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• 2015

Rhodamine B (RhB) was utilized as a dye sensitizer for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and its photovoltaic property was examined under the illumination of AM 1.5 G, $100mWcm^{-2}$. DSSCs based on RhB exhibited typical photovoltaic properties with an open-circuit voltage ($V_{OC}$) of 0.34 V, a short-circuit current ($J_{SC}$) of $1.55mA{\cdot}cm^{-2}$, a fill factor (FF) of 50%, and a conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.26%. In order to further improve the photovoltaic properties of RhB-based DSSCs, the effect of (i) incorporating a strong electron-donating NCS unit into the RhB molecular backbone, (ii) combining a bis-negatively charged zinc complex anion ($Zn-dmit_2$, dmit=di-mercapto-dithiol-thione) with the amine cation of RhB, (iii) co-adsorbing RhB dyes with chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) molecules onto porous $TiO_2$ electrodes, was investigated and discussed.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.120.2-120.2
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• 2011

The improvement of solar energy-to-electricity conversion efficiency has continued to be an important research area of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The mechanism of DSSCs is based on the injection of electrons from the photoexcited dye into the conduction band of nanocrystalline TiO2 or ZnO. Thus, the electronic structures, such as HOMO, LUMO, and HOMO-LUMO band gaps of dye moleculed in DSSC are deeply related to the electron transfer by photoexcitation and redox potential. Organic dyes, because of their many advantages, such as high molar extinction coefficients, convenience of customized molecular design for desired photophysical and photochemical properties, inexpensiveness with no transition metals contained, and environment-friendliness, are suitable as photosensitizers for DSSC. We believe that practically useful organic dye photosensitizers can be produced by exploiting electron donor/acceptor system with proper length of ${\pi}$-conjugation in a chromophore to control the absorption wavelength and enhance the photovoltaic performance. In this research, We designed and synthesized organic dyes also investigated the photoelectrochemical properties of a series of ionic dyes in DSSCs.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.53.2-53.2
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• 2011

Dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs) have been recognized as an alternative to the conventional p-n junction solar cells because of their simple fabrication process, low production cost, and transparency. A typical DSSC consists of a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) electrode, a dye-sensitized oxide semiconductor nanoparticle layer, liquid redox electrolyte, and a Pt-counter electrode. In dye-sensitized solar cells, charge recombination processes at interfaces between coducting glass, $TiO_2$, dye, and electrolyte play an important role in limiting the photon-to-electron conversion efficiency. A layer of ZTO thin film less than ~200nm in thickness, as a blocking layer, was deposited by DC magnetron sputtering method directly onto the anode electrode to be isolated from the electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells(DSCs). This is to prevent the electrons from back-transferring from the electrode to the electrolyte ($I^-/I_3^-$). The presented DSCs were fabricated with working electrode of Ga-doped ZnO glass coated with blocking ZTO layer, dye-attached nanoporous $TiO_2$ layer, gel electrolyte and counter electrode of Pt-deposited GZO glass. The effects of blocking layer were studied with respect to impedance and conversion efficiency of the cells.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.124-129
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• 2014

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are considered as promising alternatives to conventional photovoltaic device. However, commercialization of the DSSCs is restricted due to the low efficiency. In this paper, highly efficiency DSSCs were fabricated by the adding the TBA to the $TiO_2$ paste. $TiO_2$ photoanode added 0.2 M TBA in DSSCs are shown the best efficiency of 9.14 %. This result ascribed to improvement of the connection between the $TiO_2$ nanoparticles by the addition of the optimized amount TBA. The morphology of the photoanode was observed by FE-SEM. Further investigation about the kinetics of the electrochemical processes are performed by the EIS analysis. Longest diffusion length was obtained in case adding 0.2 M of TBA to $TiO_2$ paste, which was matched well with the improved efficiency.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1220-1224
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• 2012

This study examines the photoelectric conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) when nanometer-sized Y (0, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mol %)-incorporated $TiO_2$ prepared using a solvothermal method is utilized as the working electrode material. The photoelectric properties of the Y-$TiO_2$ used in DSSCs were studied by frequency-resolved modulated photocurrent/photovoltage spectroscopy. The recombination was much slower in the Y-$TiO_2$-based DSSCs than in the pure $TiO_2$-assembled DSSC. Compared to that using pure $TiO_2$, the energy conversion efficiency was enhanced considerably by the application of Y-$TiO_2$ in the DSSCs to approximately 6.08% for 0.5 mol % Y-$TiO_2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.408.2-409
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• 2016

Theoretically, the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are high efficiency solar cells. However DSSCs have low power conversion efficiency (PCE) than silicon based solar cells. In this study, we use the phosphor materials, such as $Y_2O_3:Eu$ (Red), $Zn_2SiO_4:Mn$ (Green), $BaMgAl_{14}O_{23}:Eu$ (Blue), to enhance the PCE of DSSCs. Three phosphors were prepared and used as an effective scattering layer on the transparent $TiO_2$ with doctor blade method. We confirmed that the three scattering layers improve the PCE and Jsc due to the light harvesting enhancement via increased the scattering and absorbance in visible range. Under the sun illumination AM 1.5 conditions, the PCE of the mesoporous $TiO_2$ based DSSCs is 5.18 %. The PCE of the DSSCs with Y2O3:Eu, $Zn_2SiO_4:Mn$ and $BaMgAl_{14}O_{23}:Eu$ as scattering layer were enhanced to 5.66 %, 5.72% and 5.82%, respectably. In order to compare the optical properties change, DSSCs were measured by EQE, reflectance and PCE. At the same time, FE-SEM and XRD were used to confirm the structural changes of each layer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.180-184
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• 2015

Stainless steel (SS) mesh was used to fabricate photoelectrode for flexible dye-seisitzed solar cells (DSSCs) in order to evaluate them as replacements for more expensive transparent conductive oxide(TCO). We fabricated the DSSCs with new type of photoelectrode, which consisted of flexible SS mesh coated with 100 nm thickness titanium (Ti) protective layer deposited using electron-beam deposition system. SS mesh DSSCs with protective layer showed higher efficiency than those without a protective layer. The best cell property in the present study showed the open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.608 V, short-circuit current density (Jsc) of $5.73mA\;cm^{-2}$, fill factor (FF) of 65.13%, and efficiency (${\eta}$) of 2.44%. Compared with SS mesh based on DSSCs (1.66%), solar conversion of SS mesh based on DSSCs with protective layer improved about 47%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.725-729
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• 2014

In this study, a transparent conductive oxide (TCO)-less dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was fabricated by using titanium (Ti) electrode to replace the Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) for the reduction of manufacturing cost. Ti film was formed by electron beam evaporation method and the results showed the sheet resistance of Ti electrodes with a thikness of 500 nm similar to FTO. In case of power conversion efficiency (PCE), a DSSC with Ti electrodes showed a lower value than that with FTO by 0.38%. For the investigation of the difference, the DSSCs were measured and analyzed by using electrochemical impedance analyzer (EIS).

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.89-92
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• 2013

Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) polymers with different electric conductivities were synthesized directly on a FTO substrate via a chemical polymerization method and applied as a platinum (Pt)-free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The catalytic properties of the PEDOT as a function of electrical conductivity were studied using cyclic voltammograms, J-V measurements and impedance spectroscopy. The PEDOT counter electrode with around 340 S/cm conductivity exhibited the best performance as a counter electrode for tri-iodide reduction. The ability to modulate catalytic activity of PEDOT with changes in conductivity shows one of promising routes for developing new counter electrode of Pt-free DSSCs.