• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• 제33권6호
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• pp.236-241
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• 2023

Solar cells based on p-conjugated donor-acceptor (D-A) organic molecular systems are a promising alternative to conventional electrical energy generation. D-A molecular systems, which have a triphenylamine (TPA) moiety linked with a benzothiadiazole (BTD) moiety, open the potential development of new small molecule donors for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. Here, a series of donor-acceptor-π-acceptor (D-A-π-A) small molecule donors (SMD) derived from triphenylamine (TPA) donor and benzothiadiazole (BTD) acceptor building blocks, were designed for BHJ organic solar cells. The small molecule donors SMD1-4 were studied using density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent-DFT (TDDFT) methods, to understand the effect of cyano and fluorine group functionalization on their properties. The effect of structure alteration by cyano and fluorine group functionalization on the optoelectronic properties, the calculated highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs) and the HOMO-LUMO gaps were theoretically explored. The V_oc (open-circuit photovoltage) and fill factor (FF) for SMD1-4 were obtained with a PC₇₁BM acceptor, which showed that these organic small molecules are potential small molecule donors for organic bulk heterojunction solar cells.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.1-13
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• 2015

The interest in renewable energy which can reduce greenhouse gas emissions has risen in the world including Korea. In Korea, solar energy generation accounts for a major percentage of electricity production using renewable energy and the solar power plants have been increasingly installed in Korea. The problem is, however, that researches on the location selection of solar power plants are unreasonably insufficient although the photovoltaic technology of the domestic solar power plants has been evolving. Thus, advanced solar energy technology could not be fully used. What is more, the indiscriminate installation of the solar power plants seriously damages the nature environment. In this study, conditions of the power plants location are analyzed in consideration of the social, cultural, environmental, economic factors and the optimum location is selected by visualizing and weighing various factors through the analytic hierarchy process. This study shows that the problem caused by the indiscriminate installation of a solar power plant could be prevented by determining the location after considering the influence of several factors. This paper would be helpful not only for the selection of location for solar plant installation in progress, but also for taking follow-up measures on the existing solar power plants placed wrongly.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 한국진공학회 2012년도 제42회 동계 정기 학술대회 초록집
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• pp.213-213
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• 2012

It has been known that quantum confinement effect of CdSe nanocrystal was observed by increasing the number of deposition cycle using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. Here, we report on thermally-induced quantum confinement effect of CdSe at the given cycle number using spin-coating technology. A cation precursor solution containing $0.3\;M\;Cd(NO_3)_2{\cdot}4H_2O$ is spun onto a $TiO_2$ nanoparticulate film, which is followed by spinning an anion precursor solution containing $0.3\;M\;Na_2\;SeSO_3$ to complete one cycle. The cycle is repeated up to 10 cycles, where the spin-coated $TiO_2$ film at each cycle is heated at temperature ranging from $100^{\circ}C$ to $250^{\circ}C$. The CdSe-sensitized $TiO_2$ nanostructured film is contacted with polysulfide redox electrolyte to construct photoelectrochemical solar cell. Photovoltaic performance is significantly dependent on the heat-treatment temperature. Incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) increases with increasing temperature, where the onset of the absorption increases from 600 nm for the $100^{\circ}C$- to 700 nm for the $150^{\circ}C$- and to 800 nm for the $200^{\circ}C$- and the $250^{\circ}C$-heat treatment. This is an indicative of quantum size effect. According to Tauc plot, the band gap energy decreases from 2.09 eV to 1.93 eV and to 1.76 eV as the temperature increases from $100^{\circ}C$ to $150^{\circ}C$ and to $200^{\circ}C$ (also $250^{\circ}C$), respectively. In addition, the size of CdSe increases gradually from 4.4 nm to 12.8 nm as the temperature increases from $100^{\circ}C$ to $250^{\circ}C$. From the differential thermogravimetric analysis, the increased size in CdSe by increasing the temperature at the same deposition condition is found to be attributed to the increase in energy for crystallization with $dH=240cal/^{\circ}C$. Due to the thermally induced quantum confinement effect, the conversion efficiency is substantially improved from 0.48% to 1.8% with increasing the heat-treatment temperature from $100^{\circ}C$ to $200^{\circ}C$.

• Resources Recycling
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• 제22권3호
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• pp.28-35
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• 2013

The recycling of the Si/SiC mixture sludge obtained from solar cell industry is very significant, environmentally and economically. The sintering characteristics of Si/SiC mixture sludge was studied for the purpose of recycling. In this study, to understand sintering behavior, SiC content in the Si/SiC mixture was controlled using an air separator. Various Si/SiC mixtures having different SiC contents were sintered using carbon black, clay and aluminum hydroxide as sintering aids. Physical properties of Si/SiC mixture and sintered bodies have been characterized using SEM, XRD, particle size analyzer and apparent density measurement. SEM and particle size analysis result confirmed that the fine particles less than 1 ${\mu}m$ decreased or removed more effectively through the air separator in the case of 95% SiC sample compared than the case of 75% SiC sample or original SiC sample. Further, with addition of the Aluminum Hydroxide, ${\beta}$-cristobalite phase gradually decreased while mullite phase gradually increased. The addition of the carbon black improved the sintering characteristics.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• 제18권12호
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• pp.267-278
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• 2020

ESS is an essential requirement for resolving power shortages and power demand management and promoting renewable energy at a time when the energy paradigm changes. In this paper, we propose a cost-effective ESS Peak-Shaving operation plan through load and solar power generation forecast. For the ESS operation plan, electric load and solar power generation were predicted through RMS, which is a statistical measure, and a target load reduction guideline for one hour was set through the predicted electric load and solar power generation amount. The load and solar power generation amount from May 6th to 10th, 2019 was predicted by simulation of load and photovoltaic power generation using real data of the target customer for one year, and an hourly guideline was set. The average error rate for predicting load was 7.12%, and the average error rate for predicting solar power generation amount was 10.57%. Through the ESS operation plan, it was confirmed that the hourly guide-line suggested in this paper contributed to the peak-shaving maximization of customers.Through the results of this paper, it is expected that future energy problems can be reduced by minimizing environmental problems caused by fossil energy in connection with solar power and utilizing new and renewable energy to the maximum.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• 제48권5호
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• pp.649-653
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• 2010

In this study, the variation of characteristics of P-25 photocatalyst with calcination temperature(Pure: non-thermally treated, 450, 650, $850^{\circ}C$) was studied. The photocatalysts were used as working materials for dye-sensitized solar cells: DSSCs) later on and their photovoltaic characterization was carried out. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using the P-25 photocatalyst with different calcination temperature was almost same expect for $850^{\circ}C$. The solar energy conversion efficiency ($\eta$) of DSSCs prepared by the nanoparticles (photocatalyst) reached 6.9% (for pure), 6.5%(for 450), 5.8%(for 650) and 5.6%(850).

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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• pp.68.2-68.2
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• 2010

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) show great promise as an inexpensive alternative to conventional p-n junction solar cells. Investigations into the various factors influencing the photovoltaic efficiency have recently been intensified. The conventional absorber electrode in DSSC is composed of compacted or sintered $TiO_2$ nanopowder that carries an anchored organic dye. The absorbance of incident light in the DSC is realized by specifically engineered dye molecules placed on the semiconductor electrode surface ($TiO_2$). The dye absorbs light at wavelengths up to about 920nm, the energy of the exited state of the molecule should be about 1.35eV above the electronic ground state corresponding to the ideal band gap of a single band gap solar cell. The dye molecules ar adhered onto the nanostrutured $TiO_2$ electrode by immersing the sintered electrode into a dye solution, typically 3mM in alcohol, for a long enough period to fully impregnate the electrode. However, the concentrations of the dye is slightly changed due to the evaporation of the alcohol. The dye is more expensive than other materials in DSSC and related to the efficiency of DSSC. Therefore, the concentrations of the dye should be carefully measured. In this study, we investigated to the dye loading on fired $TiO_2$ powder as a function of temperature by the TG-DTA and the dye solution by UV-visible spectroscopy after the impregnation process. The dye loading is related to the porosity of the nanostructured $TiO_2$ electrode.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2010년도 춘계학술대회 초록집
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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.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제33권10호
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• pp.3355-3360
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• 2012

To promote the photoelectric conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), graphene is introduced as a working electrode with $TiO_2$ in this study, because it has great transparency and very good conductivity. XRD patterns indicate the presence of graphene and $TiO_2$ particles in graphene-linked $TiO_2$ samples. Moreover, TEM pictures also show that the nano-sized $TiO_2$ particles are highly dispersed and well-linked onto the thin layered graphene. On the basis of the UV-visible spectra, the band gaps of $TiO_2$, 1.0 wt % graphene-$TiO_2$, 5.0 wt % graphene-$TiO_2$, and 10.0 wt % graphene-$TiO_2$ are 3.16, 2.94, 2.25, and 2.11 eV, respectively. Compared to pure $TiO_2$, the energy conversion efficiency was enhanced considerably by the application of graphene-linked $TiO_2$ anode films in the DSSCs to approximately 6.05% for 0.1 wt % graphene-$TiO_2$ with N719 dye (10.0 mm film thickness and $5.0mm{\times}5.0mm$ cell area) under $100mW/cm^2$ of simulated sunlight. The quantum efficiency was the highest when 1.0 wt % of graphene was used. In impedance curves, the resistance was smallest for 1.0 wt % graphene-$TiO_2$-DSSC.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• 제52권4호
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• pp.294-298
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• 2015

Blocking layers with nano carbon blacks (NCBs) were prepared by adding 0.0 ~ 0.5 wt% NCBs to the $TiO_2$ blocking layer. Then, dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated with a $0.45cm^2$ active area. TEM and micro-Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructure and phases of the NCBs, respectively. Optical microscopy and AFM were used to analyze the microstructure of the $TiO_2$ blocking layer with NCBs. UV-VIS-NIS spectroscopy was used to determine the band gap of the $TiO_2$ blocking layer with NCBs. A solar simulator and potentiostat were used to determine the photovoltaic properties and impedance of DSSCs with NCBs. The energy conversion efficiency (ECE) increased from 3.53 to 6.20 % when the NCB content increased from 0.0 to 0.3 wt%. This indicates that the effective surface area and electron mobility increased in the $TiO_2$ blocking layer with NCBs. However, the ECE decreased when the NCB content was increased to over 0.4 wt%. This change occurred because the effective electron transport area decreased with the addition of excessive NCBs to the $TiO_2$ blocking layer. The results of this study suggest that the ECE of DSSCs can be enhanced by adding the appropriate amount of NCBs to the $TiO_2$ blocking layer.