• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.179-182
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• 2006

The effect of electron beam irradiation on dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been studied to examine degradation of DSSC. The high-energy electron beam irradiation affects on the materials and performance of dye sensitized solar cells. We have checked the effects of electron beam irradiation of $TiO_2$ substrate with and without dye adsorption on the photovoltaic performances of resulting DSSCS and also studied the structural and electrical properties of polymers after irradiation. All solar cells materials were irradiated by electron beams with an energy source of 2MeV at different dose rates of 60 kGy, 120 kGy 240 kGy and 900 kGy and then their photoelectrical parameters were measured at 1 sun $(100 mW/cm^2)$. It was shown that the efficiency of DSSC was decreased as increasing the dose of e-beam irradiation due to lowering in $TiO_2$ crystallinity, decomposition of dye and oxidation of FTO glasses. On the other hand, the performance of solid-state DSSC with polyethylene oxide based electrolyte was improved after irradiation of e-beam due to enhancement of its conductivity and breakage of crosslinking.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.42.2-42.2
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• 2011

$TiO_2$ films were modified by adding a glass frit as a light scattering particle and applied to an anode electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to enhance the adhesion between $TiO_2$ and fluorine doped transparent oxide (FTO). Low melting point glass frits at contents of (3 to 7wt%) were added to the nano crystalline $TiO_2$ films. The light scattering properties, photovoltaic properties and microstructures of the photo electrodes were examined to determine the role of the low glass transition temperature ($T_g$) glass frit. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method and scratch test were conducted to support the results. The DSSC with the $TiO_2$ film containing 3wt% low Tg glass frit showed optimal performance (5.1%, energy conversion efficiency) compared to the $TiO_2$-based one. The photocurrent density slightly decreased by adding 3wt% of the frit due to its large size and non conductivity. However, the decrease of current density followed by the decrease of electron transfer due to the large frit in $TiO_2$ electrode was compensated by the scattering effect, high surface area and reduced the electron transfer impedance at the electrolyte-dye-$TiO_2$ interface. The stability of the photo electrodes was improved by the frit, which chemically promoted the sintering of $TiO_2$ at relatively low temperature ($450^{\circ}C$).

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.831-836
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• 2013

Platinized counter electrode is common in most of the dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) researches because of its high catalytic activity and corrosion stability against iodine in the electrolyte. Platinum (Pt) film coating on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass surface by using alcoholic solution of hexachloroplatinic acid ($H_2PtCl_6$), paste containing Pt precursors or sputtering are widely used techniques. This paper presents a novel application of Pt ink containing nanoparticles for making platinized counter electrode for DSSC. The characteristics of Pt films coated on FTO glass surface by different chemical methods were compared along with the performance parameters of the DSSCs made by using the films as counter electrodes. The samples coated with Pt inks were sintered at $300^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes whereas Pt-film and Pt-paste were sintered at $400^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. The Pt ink diluted in n-hexane was found to a promising candidate for the preparation of platinized counter electrode. The ink may also be applicable for DSSC on flexible substrates after optimization its sintering temperature.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.2329-2337
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• 2009

Three heteroleptic ruthenium sensitizers, Ru(L)($L^1)(NCS)_2$ [L = 4,4'-dicarboxylic acid-2,2'-bipyridine, Ru-T1: $L^1$ = (E)-2-(4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridin-4-yl)-3-(thiophen-2-yl)acrylonitrile, Ru-T2: $L^2$ = (E)-3-(5'-hexyl-2,2'-bithiophen-5- yl)-2-(4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridin-4-yl)acrylonitrile, and Ru-T3: $L^3$ = (E)-3-(5"-hexyl-2,2':5',2"-terthiophen-5-yl)-2- (4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridin-4-yl)acrylonitrile)], were synthesized and used as photosensitizers in nanocrystalline dyesensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The introduction of the 3-(5-hexyloligothiophen-5-yl)acrylonitrile group increased the conjugation length of the bipyridine donor ligand and thus improved their molar absorption coefficient and light harvesting efficiency. DSSCs with the configuration of Sn$O_2$: F/Ti$O_2$/ruthenium dye/liquid electrolyte/Pt devices were fabricated using these Ru-$T1{\sim}T3$ as a photosensitizers. Among the devices, the DSSCs composed of Ru-T2 exhibited highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.84% under AM 1.5 G illumination (100 mW/$cm^2$).

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2017

A polymeric ionic liquid, poly(1-methyl 3-(2-acryloyloxypropyl) imidazolium iodide) (PMAPII), was synthesized as a single-iodide-ion-conducting polymer and employed in a gel polymer electrolyte. Gel polymer electrolytes prepared from iodine, 4-tert-butylpyridine, ${\gamma}$-butyrolactone, and PMAPII were applied in quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The addition of 16 wt.% PMAPII provided the most favorable environment, striking a compromise between the iodide ion concentration and the ionic mobility, which resulted in the highest conversion efficiency of the resulting DSSCs. The quasi-solid-state DSSC assembled with the optimized gel polymer electrolyte exhibited a relatively high conversion efficiency of 7.67% under AM 1.5 illumination at $100mA\;cm^{-2}$ and better stability than that of the DSSC with a liquid electrolyte.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.75.1-75.1
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• 2010

Dye sensitized solar cells(DSSCs) have been extensively studied due to their various advantages such as low production cost, colorful design, and eco-friendly process. Long optical path length is one of the most effective method to improve light harvest efficiency for DSSCs. Multi-layered $TiO_2$ nano-structured film with scattering layer has been studied to generate scattering effect by many researchers. It was expected that the difference of refractive index between $TiO_2$ particles and glass frit would generate the light scattering effect and provide the long optical path length. Therefore, to enhance the scattering effect, the frits of $Bi_2O_3-B_2O_3$-ZnO glass system that has the different refractive index were added to $TiO_2$ pastes in this study. First of all, the absorbance and haze factor of $TiO_2$ electrode with dyes and the refractive index of glass frit and $TiO_2$ were measured, respectively. To study the effect of frits, the efficiencies of DSSCs added glass frit and without glass frit were compared. Our results showed slightly higher efficiency with the different absorbance and haze factor of $TiO_2$ and glass frit. It was considered that the light scattering effect would be improved with adding frits to $TiO_2$ paste. Our preliminary studies will be useful for increasing efficiency of DSSCs.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2743-2750
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• 2011

Lanthanide(III)-cored complex as a wavelength conversion material has been successfully designed and synthesized for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells, for the first time, since light with a short wavelength has not been effectively used for generating electric power owing to the limited absorption of these DSSCs in the UV region. A black dye (BD) was chosen and used as a sensitizer, because BD has a relatively weak light absorption at shorter wavelengths. The overall conversion efficiency of the BD/WCM device was remarkably increased, even with the relatively small amount of WCM added to the device. The enhancement in $V_{oc}$ by WCM, like DCA, could be correlated with the suppression of electron recombination between the injected electrons and $I_3{^-}$ ions. Furthermore, the short-circuit current density was significantly increased by WCM with a strong UV light-harvesting effect. The energy transfer from the Eu(III)-cored complex to the $TiO_2$ film occurred via the dye, so the number of electrons injected into the $TiO_2$ surface increased, i.e., the short-circuit current density was increased. As a result, BD/WCM-sensitized solar cells exhibit superior device performance with the enhanced conversion efficiency by a factor of 1.22 under AM 1.5 sunlight: The photovoltaic performance of the BD/WCM-based DSSC exhibited remarkably high values, $J_{sc}$ of 17.72 mA/$cm^2$, $V_{oc}$ of 720 mV, and a conversion efficiency of 9.28% at 100 mW $cm^{-2}$, compared to a standard DSSC with $J_{sc}$ of 15.53 mA/$cm^2$, $V_{oc}$ of 689 mV, and a conversion efficiency of 7.58% at 100 mW $cm^{-2}$. Therefore, the Eu(III)-cored complex is a promising candidate as a new wavelength conversion coadsorbent for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells to improve UV light harvesting through energy transfer processes. The abstract should be a single paragraph which summaries the content of the article.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.65-66
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• 2006

[ $TiO_2$ ] single crystalline nanorods are prepared from electrospun fibers which are composed of nanofibrils with an island-in-a-sea morphology. The mechanical pressure produces each fibril into nanorods which are converted to anatase single crystals after calcinations. HRTEM shows that the (001) plane is growing along the longitudinal direction of the rod. In this work, the nanorod electrode provides the efficient photocurrent generation in a quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using highly viscous PVDF-HFP based gel electrolytes. The overall converision efficiency of the $TiO_2$ nanorods shows 6.2 % under $100\;mW/cm^2$ (AM 1.5G) illumination.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.1188-1194
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• 2013

Transparent $TiO_2$ thin films have been prepared by sol-gel spin coating method. The sols used for deposition of thin films were prepared with different ethanol content. The effect of ethanol (solvent) concentration and annealing temperature on the performance of $TiO_2$ thin film solar cells has been studied. The results indicate that the as deposited films are amorphous in nature. $TiO_2$ thin films annealed at temperatures above $350^{\circ}C$ exhibited crystalline nature with anatase phase. The results also indicated that the crystallinity of the films improved with increase of annealing temperature. The high resolution transmission electron microscope images showed lattice fringes corresponding to the anatase phase of $TiO_2$. The band gap of the deposited films has been found to decrease with increase in annealing temperature and increase with increase in ethanol concentration. The dependents of photovoltaic efficiency of the dye-sensitized $TiO_2$ thin film solar cells (DSSCs) with the amount of ethanol used to prepare thin films was determined from photocurrent-voltage curves.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.88.1-88.1
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• 2010

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 the Dye-sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC). The efficiency of DSSC based on metal-free organic dyes is known to be much lower than that of Ru dyes generally, but a high solar energy-to-electricity conversion efficiency of up to 8% in full sunlight has been achieved by Ito et al. using an indoline dye. This result suggests that smartly designed and synthesized metal-free organic dyes are also highly competitive candidates for photosensitizers of DSSCs with their advantages mentioned above. Recently, the performance of DSSC based on metal-free organic dyes has been remarkably improved by several groups. We had reported the novel organic dye with double electron acceptor chromophore, which was a new strategy to design an efficient photosensitizer for DSSC. To verify the strategy, we synthesized organic dyes whose geometries, electronic structures and optical properties were derived from preceding density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations. In this paper, we successfully synthesized the chromophore containing multi-acceptor push-pull system from triphenylamine with thiophene moieties as a bridge unit. Organic dyes with a single electron acceptor and double acceptor system were also synthesized for comparison purposes. The photovoltaic performances of these dyes were compared, and the recombination dark current curves and the incident photon-to-current (IPCE) efficiencies were also measured in order to characterize the effects of the multi-anchoring groups on the open-circuit voltage and the short-circuit current. In order to match specifications required for practical applications to be implemented outdoors, light soaking and thermal stability tests of these DSSCs, performed under $100mWcm^{-2}$ and $60^{\circ}C$ for 1000h.