• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2010

Methodologies to improve photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) are reviewed. DSSC is usually composed of a dye-adsorbed $TiO_2$ photoanode, a tri-iodide/iodide redox electrolyte and a Pt counter electrode. Among the photovoltaic parameters of short-circuit photocurrent density, open-circuit voltage and fill factor, short-circuit photocurrent density is the collective measure of light harvesting, charge separation and charge collection efficiencies. Internal quantum efficiency is known to reach almost 100%, which indicates that charge separation occurs without loss by recombination. Thus, light harvesting efficiency plays an important role in improvement of photocurrent. In this paper, technologies to improve light harvesting efficiency, including surface area improvement by nano-dispersion, size-dependent light scattering efficiency, bi-functional nano material, panchromatic absorption by selective positioning of three different dyes and transparent conductive oxide (TCO)-less DSSC, are introduced.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.427-431
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• 2011

Hybrid $SiO_2-TiO_2$ photoelectrode with different type of layers was investigated in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Use of a thin layer of nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ would imply reduction in the amount of dye coverage, however, lower amount of dye in the thin films would imply fewer electron generation upon illumination. So, thus, it becomes necessary to include a $SiO_2-TiO_2$ layer for increase light harvesting effect such that the lower photon conversion due to thin layer could be compensated. In this paper reports the use of transparent high surface area $TiO_2$ layer and an additional $SiO_2-TiO_2$ layer, thus ensuring adequate light harvesting in these devices. The best solar conversion efficiency 6.6% under AM 1.5 was attained with a multi-layer structure using $TiO_2$ layer/$SiO_2-TiO_2$ layer/$TiO_2$ layer for the light harvesting and this had resulted to about 44% increase in photocurrent density of dye-sensitized solar cells.

• Ceramist
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.98-111
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• 2018

The lead-based perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) material has a high molar coefficient, high crystallinity at low temperature, and long range of balanced electron-hole transport length. In addition, PCE of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has been dramatically improved by over 22% by amending the electronic quality of perovskite and by using state-of-the-art hole transporting materials (HTMs) such as tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9,9'-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) due to enhanced charge transport toward the electrode via properly aligned energy levels with respect to the perovskite. Replacing the spiro-OMeTAD with new HTMs with the desired properties of appropriate energy levels, high hole mobility in its pristine form, low cost, and easy processable materials is necessary for attaining highly efficient and stable PSCs, which are anticipated to be truly compatible for practical application. Furthermore, Recently Pb-free perovskite materials much attention as an alternative light-harvesting active layer material instead of lead based perovskite in photovoltaic cells. In this work, we demonstrate a Pb-free perovskite material for the light harvesting and emitter as optoelectronic devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.280-280
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• 2013

In green plants, energy generation is accomplished through light-harvesting photosystem, which utilize abundant visible light and multi-stepwise redox reaction to oxidize water and reduce NADP+, transferring electrons efficiently with active cofactors1. Inspired by natural photosynthesis, artificial solar water-splitting devices are being designed variously. However, the several approaches involving immobilization2, conjugation3, and surface modification4 still have limitations. We have made artificial photosynthesis templates by self-assembling tyrosine-based peptide to mimick photosystem II. Porphyrin sensitizer absorbing blue light strongly was conjugated with the templates and they were hybridized with cobalt oxide through the reduction of cobalt ions in an aqueous solution. The formation of hybrid templates was characterized using TEM, and their water oxidation performance was measured by fluorescence oxygen probe. Our results suggest that the bio-templated assembly of functional compounds has a great potential for artificial photosynthesis.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.88.2-88.2
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• 2010

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted considerable attention on account of their high solar energy-to-conversion efficiencies and low cost processes compared to conventional p-n junction solar cells. The mechanism of DSSC is based on the injection of electrons from the photo excited dyes into the conduction band of the semiconductor electrode. The oxidized dye is reduced by the hole injection into either the hole conductor or the electrolyte. Thus, the light harvesting effect of dye plays an important role in capturing the photons and generating the electron/hole pair, as well as transferring them to the interface of the semiconductor and the electrolyte, respectively. We used the organic fluorescence materials which can absorb short wavelength light and emit longer wavelength region where dye sensitize effectively. In this work, the DSSCs were fabricated with fluorescence materials added $TiO_2$ photo-electrode which were sensitized with metal-free organic dyes. The photovoltaic performances of fluorescence aided DSSCs were compared, and the recombination dark current curves and the incident photon-to-current (IPCE) efficiencies were measured in order to characterize the effects of the additional light harvesting effect in DSSC. Electro-optical measurements were also used to optimize the fluorescence material contents on TiO2 photo-electrode surface for higher conversion efficiency (${\eta}$), fill factor (FF), open-circuit voltage (VOC) and short-circuit current (ISC). The enhanced light harvesting effect by the judicious choice/design of the fluorescence materials and sensitizing dyes permits the enhancement of photovoltaic performance of DSSC.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.112-117
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• 2024

The Internet of Things (IoT) device is a key component for Industry 4.0, which is the network in homes, factories, buildings, and infrastructures to monitor and control the systems. To demonstrate the IoT network, batteries are widely utilized as power sources, and the batteries inevitably require repeated replacement due to their limited capacity. Magneto-mechano-electric (MME) generators are one of the candidate to develop self-powered IoT systems since MME generators can harvest electricity from stray alternating current (AC) magnetic fields arising from electric power cables. Herein, we report a magneto-mechano-triboelectric generator enabled by a ferromagnetic-ferroelectric composite. In the triboelectric nylon matrix, a ferromagnetic carbonyl iron powder (CIP) was introduced to induce magnetic force near the AC magnetic field for MME harvesting. Additionally, a ferroelectric ceramic powder was also added to the MME composite material to enhance the charge-trapping capability during triboelectric harvesting. The final ferromagnetic-ferroelectric composite-based MME triboelectric harvester can generate an open-circuit voltage and a short-circuit current of 110 V and 8 μA, respectively, which were enough to turn on a light emitting diode (LED) and charge a capacitor. These results verify the feasibility of the MME triboelectric generator for not only harvesting electricity from an AC magnetic field but also for various self-powered IoT applications.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.643-650
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• 2018

A self-powered electrochromic device was fabricated on an indium tin oxide-polyethylene naphthalate flexible substrate using a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) as a self-harvesting source; the electrochromic device was naturally bleached and operated under outdoor light conditions. The color of the organic electrochromic polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate, was shifted from pale blue to deep blue with an antimony tin oxide film as a charge-balanced material. Electrochromic performance was enhanced by secondary doping using dimethyl sulfoxide. As a result, the device showed stable switching behavior with a high transmittance change difference of 40% at its specific wavelength of 630 nm for 6 hrs. To improve the efficiency of the solar cell, 1.0 wt.% of Ag NWs in the photoanode was applied to the $TiO_2$ photoanode. It resulted in an efficiency of 3.3%, leading to an operating voltage of 0.7 V under xenon lamp conditions. As a result, we built a standalone self-harvesting electrochromic system with the performance of transmittance switching of 29% at 630 nm, by connecting with two solar cells in a device. Thus, a self-harvesting and flexible device was fabricated to operate automatically under the irradiated/dark conditions.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.337-344
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• 2024

This work focuses on improving the light-harvesting efficiency of thin-film silicon solar cells through innovative multi-architecture surface modifications. To create a regular optical structure, a lithographic process was performed to form it on a glass substrate through various etching processes, from Etch-1 to Etch-3. AZO was deposited on top of the structures and re-etched to create a multi-architectural surface. These surface-modified structures improved the light absorption and overall performance of the solar cell through changes in optical and physical properties, which we will analyze. In addition, we investigated the effect of post-cleaning on the etched glass structures through EDX analysis to understand the mechanism of the etching action. The results of this study are expected to provide important guidelines for the design and fabrication of solar cells and other photovoltaic devices.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.495-504
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• 2021

Energy Harvesting is a technology that can convert wasted energy such as vibration, heat, light, electromagnetic energy, etc. into usable electrical energy. Among them, vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) has high energy conversion efficiency with a small volume; thus, it is expected to be used in various autonomous powering devices, such as implantable medical devices, wearable devices, and energy harvesting from road or automobiles. In this study, wasted vibration energy in an automobile is converted into electrical energy by high-power piezoelectric materials, and the generated electrical energy is found to be an auxiliary power source for the operation of wireless sensor nodes, LEDs, etc. inside an automobile. In order to properly install the PEH in an automobile, vibration characteristics includes frequency and amplitude at several positions in the automobile is monitored initially and the cantilever structured PEH was designed accordingly. The harvesting properties of fabricated PEH is characterized and installed into the engine part of the automobile, where the vibration amplitude is stable and strong. The feasibility of PEH is confirmed by operating electric components (LEDs) that can be used in practice.