Research On The Usability of Low-Cost Materials in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Research on the usability of low-cost materials
in dye sensitized solar cells
Students: Andreas Wagner (team leader)

Jürgen Köchl
Project Teachers: Dr. Wolf Peter Stöckl
Date: 24.03.2010
HTL Braunau am Inn
Osternbergerstraße 55
5280 Braunau/Inn
Austria
Tel: 0043/7722/83690
Köchl Jürgen Strom aus der Farbstoffsolarzelle Seite 1
E-mail: office@htl-braunau.at
Wagner Andreas
www.htl-braunau.at
Research on the usability of low-cost materials in dye sensitzied solar cells
Table of Contents:
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 State of the Art ...................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Intention ................................................................................................................................................................ 1
1.3 Theoretical background ........................................................................................................................................ 2
2 Materials and Methods .......................................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Instruction sheet to build a dye sensitized solar cell .......................................................................................... 5
2.2 Experiment set-up for Long-Term Stability Research ........................................................................................10
2.3 DSC – Data logger...............................................................................................................................................12
2.4 Research on the chemical stability of the dye ..................................................................................................12
3 Results..................................................................................................................................................................13
3.1 Measurement results .........................................................................................................................................13
3.2 Long term stability ..............................................................................................................................................15
3.3 Regeneration of the cell after small area light exposure..................................................................................17
3.4 Stability of the dye ..............................................................................................................................................18
4 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................21
4.1 Efficiency of our low cost cells ...........................................................................................................................21
4.2 Effect of decoloration .........................................................................................................................................21
4.3 Repeatability of measurement results ..............................................................................................................22
4.4 Economic aspects ...............................................................................................................................................22
5 Conclusions ..........................................................................................................................................................23
5.1 Conclusions of the results ..................................................................................................................................23
5.2 What would we do differently if we repeated this project? ..............................................................................23
5.3 Future Prospects .................................................................................................................................................23
6 Personal Resume and acknowledgements .........................................................................................................25
7 Literature ..............................................................................................................................................................26
7.1 Internet resources...............................................................................................................................................26
7.2 Scientific Journals ...............................................................................................................................................26
7.3 Endnotes .............................................................................................................................................................28
©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl

1 Introduction
The amount of CO2 in the air has been rising steadily and the impact on our climate is getting more and
more serious. Our oil and gas resources are decreasing to an alarming extent and the price for valuable
resources is growing. Many experts try to demonstrate the different problems of our energy supply and
desperately look out for new ideas in the field of renewable energy. The energy problem is not only an
ecological and economical problem; it is also a political one. Some people even say that governments
start war because of fossil fuels. This issue alone would fill many reports, but we just wanted to use this
information as food for thought to show how important the work on renewable energy is.
Why did we actually choose to work on the field of dye sensitized solar cells (DSC)? Our project teacher
Dr. Stöckl gave Andreas a construction manual for a DSC during his chemistry lab. He was very
interested in this topic but was not able to build a cell because there was not even one substance that
he would have needed in his laboratory. However he did not give up and decided to ask Jürgen to work
with him on this topic.
1.1 State of the Art

In 1991, as Prof. Grätzel presented the DSC the first time 1 , many hopes were raised because of this new
technology. Unfortunately the hopes have not been satisfied yet.
The highest efficiency that has ever been reached for a DSC was 11.1%. But the amount of work that is
necessary to produce a DSC with an efficiency of over 10% has to be considered as well. While the
silicon solar cell already reaches more than 17% in large scale the DSC has an efficiency of 11% at just
0,219cm² under laboratory conditions!
The best cell with a larger photovoltaic area (26.5 cm²) has an efficiency of 6.3% but already uses many
cells connected serially 2 .
For this report only DSCs with a liquid electrolyte were studied because this type is by far the most
common and most efficient. Some groups try to replace the liquid electrolyte with a gel, but because of
the low mobility of the ions in the electrolyte and the bad diffusion into the TiO2 surface the efficiency is
significantly lower than in the liquid electrolyte cells.
1.2 Intention
The topic of dye sensitized solar cells is very complex and just specialized institutions work on it.
Although our ideas sometimes are really simple, we tried to do our very best to improve the technology of
DSCs and take it a step further to a commercial application, at least as much as it was possible for us.
The major reasons why the DSC is still not available on the market are:
• sealing of the aggressive iodine electrolyte

• efficiency
• scaling up to larger cells
• costs
Our Intention was to try new low cost materials in the cell and test them on their long-term stability and
efficiency. Although the low cost cells probably will not have the same efficiency as expensive cells we
might be able to build more economic cells concerning the costs in comparison to their efficiency.
If the sealing is not dense, the electrolyte will evaporate, therefore, we tested new sealants like a rubber
substance from one of our partner companies.
To enable to study the cells over a long period, a special experiment set up with a very complex
electronic measurement unit to monitor 30 cells at the same time was developed.
Another intention of our work evolved over the time. We had very big problems to get detailed
information about this topic or to filter essential information out of published papers. At the moment,
only academics work with DSCs, moreover the information is shut away very often. We suppose more
young and interested students should be able to work in this fascinating field of science, so we try to
publish every step of our instruction sheet in detail. Furthermore we made a short movie to show how to
build the cells (YouTube – “How to make a dye sensitized solar cell HTL Braunau”).
©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 1

1.3 Theoretical background

The following chapter describes the working principle of the dye sensitized solar cell and the specific
duties of the components in the cell. In addition, details of the problems with the long term stability and
the efficiency limiting factors in the cell will be presented.
1.3.1 Working Principle

The DSC contains 2 TCO (transparent conductive oxide) glass electrodes. One of the electrodes is coated
with a titanium dioxide layer (about 5-15µm thick) which is very porous. A huge number of dye molecules
are absorbed into this layer. The photons (light) hit onto the dye molecules and the dye is lifted to an
excited energy state. Because of this excited state, the dye loses an electron to the titanium dioxide (the
dye oxidizes). From the TiO2 semiconductor the electron is transported over the conductive surface of the
glass electrode and over the load back to the counter electrode. The graphite counter electrode now
transfers the electron to the iodine redox couple which finally reduces the dye again. The titanium
dioxide electrode is negative and the graphite electrode is positive.
Figure 1 working principle of the DSC Figure 2 components of the DSC
1.3.2 Efficiency limiting effects of the DSC

The following effects limit the efficiency of the DSC:
• The internal resistance of the DSC is affected negatively by:
- resistance of the TCO glass
- conductivity of the electrolyte and thickness of the electrolyte layer
- parameters of the TiO2 layer (porosity, thickness)
• The excited dye molecule emits a photon instead of transporting an electron to the TiO2
• The already transferred electron at the TiO2 is transported back to the dye and is lost
• The already transferred electron at the TiO2 is transmitted to the redox system in the electrolyte
• The absorption spectrum of the dye is not using the whole spectrum available from the sun
1.3.3 Long term stability

The long term stability of the DSC is a very big hurdle on the way to commercial use. Three different
problems can be distinguished in the cell:
• The DSC contains an aggressive liquid electrolyte and just very inert chemical substances are
stable over a long time period in its presence. The sealing of the cell is very much related to the
long term stability. This is one reason why our team tried to use new sealants based on rubber
from our supporting company “Kraiburg Holding GmbH”.
• The titanium dioxide has a very strong photo catalytic effect under UV light, which destroys all
organic components in the cell. This problem can actually be prevented by the use of a UV-filter 3 .

• When the cell is used outdoors it may reach up to 80°C under sunlight. Furthermore, the
temperature between night and day varies strongly. Those stresses cause other side reactions
inside the cell. These effects even appear at a very good sealed cell with a UV-filter.
1.3.4 Titanium dioxide layer

The titanium dioxide layer in combination with the dye is the most important part of the DSC. Especially
the porosity (particle size), thickness, homogeneity and the surface structure of the TiO2 layer are very
important. These properties can only be studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). With the help of
our supporting company “Amag rolling GmbH” we were able to make some pictures to study our different
TiO2 coatings.
Figure 3 SEM pictures - TiO2 layer (left and middle); light microscope picture - layer thickness 6.7µm (right)
1.3.5 Counter electrode

Another very important point for the efficiency of the cell is the counter electrode. It is also made of a
TCO glass coated with either platinum, graphite or gold. This layer has several duties:
• Increase conductivity
• Allow more current to flow because of high porosity
• Increase the voltage because of an improvement of the energy level (reduction of overvoltage)
1.3.6 Dye
The dye is responsible for collecting the photons and delivering the electrons to the TiO2. To do that in an
efficient way it has to absorb as much light from the sun spectrum as possible. In addition there is a
special characteristic that describes how many photons are actually able to lift the dye molecule on the
certain energy level that is necessary to deliver an electron to the TiO2. This value is determined through
the IPCE (incident photon to current efficiency) analysis. Unfortunately there are just a few values
available in the respective literature – especially for Ruthenium-dyes. This is one of the reasons why we
got in contact with the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich to measure these values for hibiscus as
well.
1.3.7 Electrolyte
The electrolyte is responsible for the transport of the electron from the counter electrode to the dye.
Iodine and several complexes are normally used as the redox couple in the electrolyte. To increase the
efficiency of the cell, additives like 4-tert-Butylpyridine are often used.
The main reaction in the cell is the balance reaction:
I3 + 2 e ⇌3 I
- - -
Moreover, iodine can react with the oxygen solved in the electrolyte 4 . It can even react with water which
might be the reason for a decrease of efficiency when water is used as the electrolyte solvent. Especially
the following reactions are of importance:
I2 + 2OH ⇌I + IO + H2O
+ - - - -
H2O⇌H + OH
IO3 + 5I + 6H ⇌ 3I2 + 3H2O
- - - - - +
3IO → IO3 + 2I

In this paper ethanol was mainly used as solvent for the electrolyte (bought from the company
“mansolar”). After studying that water and ethanol are very bad for the power output and stability 5 of the
cell, acetonitrile was used as solvent.
1.3.8 Mind map

This structure should help to visualize how many parts a dye sensitized solar cell has and what variations
of components our team tried in this project.
Figure 4 different components of the dye sensitized solar cell and the variations that were applied in this report

2 Materials and Methods

In the following chapter our practical work is shown. At first the self developed and optimized instruction
sheet to build the dye sensitized solar cells is presented. Lots of tests had to be performed before the
assembly instruction was good enough to start off with the experiments. As already mentioned our team
had big problems to gain detailed information from the internet as well as scientific journals about the
cell assembly. Just to improve the titanium dioxide coating, more than 200 tests and 60 suspensions
were tested.
Figure 5 four of the first prototypes
2.1 Instruction sheet to build a dye sensitized solar cell

Apart from the written instruction sheet there is a short movie which helps to understand every step in
this manual. The film is in German and a few steps are a little different to this manual because a few
production steps were slightly changed, nevertheless it should help to visualise the several steps. One
can find it on YouTube – “How to make a dye sensitized solar cell HTL Braunau”.
Because of this video young students, PhD students and researchers from different countries (Sweden,
Australia, Ireland, India, China and Saudi Arabia) contacted our group.
2.1.1 List of all materials to build a DSC

• 2 transparent conductive glass plates (TCO glass) – our team used the product: “K-glass” from
the company Pilkington which is a cheap but electrically conductive heat isolating window glass
• millimetre
• sticky tape
• ruler and a small knife
• ultrasonic bath
• isopropyl alcohol
• titanium dioxide (company: Evonik Degussa GmbH; product name: P25)
• spattle
• mortar with pistil
• solution for the TiO2 suspension made out of:
¾ 1,25ml acetyl acetone
¾ 2,5ml Triton X-100 (1/5 vol.) in H2O dest.
¾ 5ml polyethylene glycol 20000 (100g/l) in H2O dest.
¾ 50ml H2O dest.
• pipettor (25µl-1000µl)
• muffle furnace (at least 450°C)
• glass rod

• dye solution (hibiscus extract in H2O/Ethanol 1/1)

• graphite spray (company: Kontaktchemie; product name: Graphit 33)
• electrolyte containing
¾ 0,5 mol/l lithium iodine or potassium iodine
¾ 0,05 mol/l iodine
¾ solvent: acetonitrile (as a easier (but less stable over a longer period of time) version:
distilled water or ethanol)
¾ 4-tert. Butylpyridin can be added to increase power output of the cell
¾ One may buy an electrolyte from these companies: solaronix, dyesol, mansolar
• sealant - two-component adhesive or hot melting foil (company: solaronix) – our group tried to
use a new sealant (rubber solution from the company “Kraiburg Holding GmbH”) but it seems not
to be dense
• brush
• clamp
• weighing machine
• sticky copper tape (company: CMC Klebetechnik; product name: 91815), wire and a soldering
iron to contact the cells
2.1.2 Detect the conductive side

One side of the glass plates is conductive – it is coated with a transparent conductive oxide (TCO). Take
an ohmmeter and test each side of each glass plate for conductivity. Afterwards mark those sides and
from now on always work on the conductive side of the plates.
2.1.3 Place spacers

A small part of every glass plate has to be free for the electric contact and the sealing. Because of that a
tape is used as a spacer for this area. The complete glass plate is covered with a sticky tape and
afterwards the photoactive area is cut out with a small knife (called doctor blade method).
Tape
Area to contact
the cell
Figure 6 drawing that shows how to place the tape
2.1.4 Clean the glasses

In order to ensure that the TiO2 layer and the graphite layer are able to adhere on the glass plates, it is
necessary that the glass plates are free of any contamination. For this purpose the glasses are washed
with the tape spacer in an ultrasonic bath with isopropyl alcohol. After five minutes the glass is taken out
of the bath and dried. To simplify the coating procedure of the titanium dioxide layer the glass plate is
put into distilled water and dried it again. This causes some sort of surface effect that helps to distribute
the suspension on the glass more easily. This little step is not included in the movie so please do not
wonder about that.
2.1.5 Coat the working electrode with titanium dioxide

Put 3g of TiO2 in a mortar and add 1ml of the solution mentioned above from time to time. Altogether
10ml are added to the solution. The suspension has to be stirred with a pistil for several minutes. Put

the solution on the top of the side with the tape. Use 5µl per square centimetre of photoactive area. If
one rolled the glass rod, most of the suspension would stick on the rod itself and not enough suspension
is left to coat the glass plate. In case more than one coating are produced at the same time, the glass
rod with distilled water always need to be cleaned between every coating procedure.
The sticky tape is used as a spacer and mask for the TiO2 film. Once the layers are dry the tape is
carefully removed. Depending on the tape there are sometimes residues that have to be removed with
petroleum.
Figure 7 Three coatings of TiO2
2.1.6 Temper the working electrode

To remove organic components that are included in the suspension, to optimize the crystal structure of
the TiO2 and to electrically conduct the titanium dioxide, the glass plate has to be heated for 1 hour at
450°C. To avoid a very fast heating process the plates are put into the furnace when it is cold and the
timer is started at this time. The slow heating procedure has the bonus effect of drying remained water.
At 450°C the water would evaporate so fast that parts of the layer would be destroyed.
To prevent the coating from damage, the cooling of the glass plate has to be slowly as well. The furnace
is simply turned off and opened, but the plates are left in there. At about 80°C they are put out of the
furnace.
2.1.7 Put the working electrode into the dye solution

After one removed the coated glass plates from the furnace they need to be put into a small box with the
dye solution. About 12 hours later one has to wash them in a Petri dish with the same solvent as the dye
solution. Pivot the dish carefully and dry the glass plate afterwards. This step is very important because
otherwise dye molecules that are not absorbed to the titanium dioxide layer itself would increase the
internal resistance of the cell.
2.1.8 Produce the counter electrode

The dye sensitized solar cells consists of 2 electrodes – one working electrode made out of titanium
dioxide and a dye and a counter electrode made out of graphite (or platinum). This electrode has to be
carried through step 1-3 as well as the TiO2 electrode. Following those steps a big amount of graphite is
sprayed onto the glass plate with the help of a graphite spray (the spray needs to be shaken before using
it). Afterwards one uses a glass rod to distribute the suspension evenly on the glass plate. The graphite
layer is dried at room temperature, the tape spacer is removed and then one puts the electrode into the
furnace for 2 hours at 200°C (again – started in a cold furnace). The last procedure is to polish the
cooled layer with a pulp gently.

Figure 8 the graphite coating needs to be polished after the heating process
An electrolyte has to be put between the two plates in order to allow ions moving between the two
electrodes. This as well as all the other working steps can be done just after the steps 1-7 are finished.
2.1.9 Fill the cell with electrolyte

The electrolyte is taken into the cell by dropping it onto the graphite electrode before the electrodes are
put together. One just needs about 50µl of electrolyte because of the small distance between the two
plates (30-70 µm).
2.1.10 Put the two electrodes together

After placing the electrolyte on the counter electrode, the cell is assembled by putting the two electrodes
on one another shifted about 8mm. The shift between the two electrodes is needed because the area for
the electrical contact has to be free.
2.1.11 Seal the cell

The cell has to be sealed, otherwise the electrolyte would evaporate. Coat all sides of the cell with the
preferred sealant. Depending on the sealing method and sealant one or two clamps are used to press
the two electrodes together until the sealant is dry.
Figure 9 Picture of a finished cell sealed with epoxy resin

Figure 10 Pictures of a finished cell sealed with a liquid rubber substance from one of our supporting companies
2.1.12 Contact the cell

Especially for long-term experiments the cell has to have a very good and stable electric contact. There
are different ways to contact the cell (silver conductive paint etc.). After several tests our team concluded
to use sticky conductive copper band on which one can braze a wire.
Figure 11 A completed cell electrically conducted with silver conductive paint

2.2 Experiment set-up for Long-Term Stability Research

An extensive part of this project was the development of a complex electronic system to measure the
long term stability of 30 DSCs at the same time. Additionally, a LabView software to monitor all the
connected cells was developed.
Figure 12 block diagram of the experiment set up
Figure 13 experiment set up to measure 30 DSCs

Figure 14 circuit diagram of the multiplexer electronics
Figure 15 board connection diagram of the multiplexer electronics
Figure 16 LabView managing software for the experiment set up to measure the long-term stability

Unfortunately the electronics was destroyed when it was transported in a car to present the project at a
local fair. The time to redesign and produce another blank was too short, so we had to cut down on our
long-term stability research. But still these few results that we have from this experiment set up are very
interesting (see chapter 3.2.1).
2.3 DSC – Data logger

The logger was designed to observe a DSC outdoors. The device is powered by a battery pack, thus it is
independent from the grid. A small 8 bit microprocessor is used as the controller of the whole electronic
system. The cell is measured with eight different loads and the data is stored as an excel file on a SD
card. Not only are the electrical characteristics of the cell recorded, but also the actual temperature and
brightness.
Since the long-term stability research electronics was destroyed at a local fair we mainly used the data
logger to measure the I-V characteristics of the cells under a lamp.
Figure 17 Picture, circuit diagram and board connection diagram of the data logger
2.4 Research on the chemical stability of the dye

Besides the variation of cell parameters, the production of several cells and the research on their long
term stability, the chemical stability of the dye was investigated.
Titanium dioxide is able to oxidize organic components with the help of UV light. This effect also happens
in the dye sensitized solar cell. But there is a big difference between the use of the photo catalytic
titanium dioxide in a suspension and as a coating. Because of that experiments were made to determine
if there would still be the UV degradation of the dye when it was already absorbed into the TiO2 layer.

3 Results
In the next chapter the most important and interesting results of this research project are pointed out.
Apart from the presented results there are many more such as failed production procedures for every
step of the self developed instruction sheet. But to bring up all of them would exceed an appropriate
length of the report by far.
3.1 Measurement results

As already mentioned the main intention of this project was to vary the components of the cell and to
compare the results. All in all over 50 cells with different electrolytes, counter electrodes, TiO2 and other
variations were produced.
3.1.1 Dependency on used dye

The most experiments and therefore the most time-consuming component to be changed in the cell is
the dye. “Basacryl”, “Basilenrot” and “Cellitonscharlach” are dyes that are used in industry to color
clothes.
Figure 18 the dye is responsible for the colour of the titanium dioxide layer
open circuit voltage

dye /mV short circuit current /mA light intensity mW/cm²
Basacryl 20 0 16
Basilenrot 8 0 16
Cellitonscharlach 160 0,1 16
hibiscus extract in
ethanol 96% 225 0,31 16
hibiscus extract in
water 370 2,7 30
hibiscus extract in
water/ethanol 1/1 445 3,35 30
red wine number 1 440 0,63 16
red wine number 2 290 0,16 16
N719 Ru 0,25 mmol/l in
ethanol 96% 460 6,2 30
Unfortunately the lamp to illuminate the cells was changed between the tests so one needs to take into
account that the light intensity is just half of some cells. After this first series of tests our team decided
to stick to the ruthenium dye and the hibiscus dye and vary the other components.

3.1.2 Dependency on the counter electrode coating

Usually a TCO glass plate with a platinum coating is used as a counter electrode. In several instruction
sheets for secondary schools a pencil is used to coat the glass with graphite. As alternatives a graphite
spray was introduced and tested.
Open curcuit voltage Short curcuit current Illumination

Coating material Voc [mV] Isc [mA] [mW/cm²]
Graphite spray 370 2,7 30
Uncoated TCO glass 370 0,125 30
pencil 420 0,5 30
In the process of improving the graphite coating, the solution that was in the graphite spray was diluted
with isopropyl alcohol (1:1) and used to coat the counter electrode.
Quantity of graphite Open curcuit voltage Short curcuit current Illumination

solution Voc [mV] Isc [mA] [mW/cm²]
30µl 430 0,5 30
60µl 450 0,75 30
120µl 440 0,95 30
As another possibility to coat the counter electrode Gold-Palladium was used. With the help of our
supporting company “Amag rolling GmbH” a ~100nm thick layer was sputtered on two glass plates. Even
though the Gold-Palladium cells used TBP as an electrolyte additive to maximize the power output, the
cells were not able to compete with the graphite coated counter electrodes.
Open curcuit Short curcuit current Illumination

dye counter electrode additive? voltage Voc [mV] Isc [mA] [mW/cm²]
hibiscus in
H2O/Eth 1/1 graphite no 455 1,9 30
hibiscus in
H2O/Eth 1/1 gold+ palladium yes 393 0,23 30
N719 Ru
0,25 mmol/l gold+ palladium yes 530 2,1 30
N719 Ru
0,25 mmol/l graphite no 460 6,2 30
At last the graphite coating was compared to the widely-used platinum coating (5µl/cm² of 5mmol
chloroplatinic acid in isopropyl alcohol were applied – coating method like graphite and titanium
dioxide). Although the output power is lower it is fairly good in comparison to the platinum. Especially the
third cell had a very high short circuit current considering that there was no TBP additive in the
electrolyte.
counter Open curcuit voltage Short curcuit Illumination

dye electrode additive? Voc [mV] current Isc [mA] [mW/cm²]
N719 Ru 0,25 mmol/l platinum yes 830 8,6 30
N719 Ru 0,25 mmol/l graphite yes 650 4,8 30
N719 Ru 0,25 mmol/l graphite no 460 6,2 30

3.1.3 Dependency on the used titanium dioxide

At the beginning of the project the first prototypes were made with titanium dioxide from Merck (purity:
p.a.). After very big problems (very small short circuit current, difficult to produce homogeneous coatings)
our team decided to test the widely-used titanium dioxide from Degussa (product name: P25). Because
of a different production procedure (the P25 is acidic with water and the Merck p.a. is neutral with water)
completely different suspensions needed to be used. But because of the immensely smaller particle size
the current output of the cell is a lot bigger.
titanium Open curcuit voltage Voc Short curcuit current Illumination

dioxide [mV] Isc [mA] [mW/cm²]
Merck p.a. 215 0,12 30
Merck p.a. 470 0,11 30
Degussa P25 370 2,7 30
3.1.4 Dependency on used electrolyte solvent

Most of the cells were made with an electrolyte from the company “mansolar” with ethanol as its solvent.
Furthermore acetonitrile and propylene carbonate were used. The experiments of the cells with
acetonitrile need to be proved in another series before we want to present them. The problem with
propylene carbonate was, that the iodine salt (potassium iodine) was not 100% soluble and therefore
the concentration of I- is less. Because of that the results are not comparable at the moment and need
to be reviewed.
3.1.5 Dependency of the size of the illumination area

Besides the variation of the components, the area of illumination was varied too. A 1cm² mask was
placed on top of the cells to ensure that just one sixth of the cell is illuminated. In the following table the
percent of the voltage and current that the cell produces under these conditions are described. The
second ruthenium-cell is better than the first because TBP was used as an additive.
1cm² mask 1cm² mask percent percent

dye voltage current voltage /mV current / mA voltage current
hibiscus in
H2O/Eth 1/1 433 2 364 0,5 84 25
hibiscus in
H2O/Eth 1/1 455 1,9 390 0,47 86 25
Ruthenium
N719 460 6,2 343 2,5 75 40
Ruthenium
N719 605 7,4 500 3,5 83 47
The ruthenium dye was able to produce remarkably more current than the hibiscus cell with just one
sixth of illumination. We are not really sure how to explain this result but it definitely shows that the
ruthenium dye is capable of producing more electrons than the hibiscus dye. Further experiments in this
field will follow.
3.2 Long term stability

Besides the variation of the cell components the long-term stability of the cells was tested.

3.2.1 Electrical degradation

As already mentioned, a measurement unit to monitor 30 cells at the same time was developed. After
one week one could already see an electrical degradation. The fill factor 6 of this DSC is very small. The
reason for this seems to be the graphite counter electrode – the cells will be measured at the University
of Munich to determine whether this is true or not. A thesis was studied, which showed exactly that
phenomenon 7 , but the other components of the cell were different too, so it is not directly similar.
Besides the comparison of the two different types of solar cells the electrical degradation of the DSC in
the time period of one week is shown. The open circuit voltage decreases and the short circuit current
increases – all in all the output power stays the same, but there is some chemical reaction going on in
the cell. This sort of degradation was already published in literature 8 , but there is still no explanation to
this effect right now.
3.2.2 Optical Degradation

Apart from the electrical degradation an optical degradation after light exposure can also be observed.
Figure 19 cell 1 after 15 days light exposure; cells 2-4 after about 24 hours light exposure;
cell 4 uses a different dye than cell 1-3
It seems as if many factors combine their effects on the optical degradation. A very obvious explanation
would be that the electrolyte evaporated, but this is not an explanation for the bleaching of several parts
in the cell. Another interesting aspect is that the bleaching only happens when the cell is illuminated.
Sometimes the effect of decoloration even stops. One more interesting effect is that the optical
degradation and decoloration still happened when an UV filter is used.

To conduct more detailed research cell No. 1 was opened. On the area where there was still dye, there
had been electrolyte too. Furthermore, one can see the yellow colour of the electrolyte – this seems to
be elementary iodine that was oxidized in the cell. After the glass electrodes were washed with distilled
water, yellow precipitate fell out.
Figure 20 cell 1; picture of the optical degradation (left);

opened (middle, right)
After these first degradation processes were observed, experiments to find out what exactly happens in
the cell were developed (see chapter 3.4.4)
3.3 Regeneration of the cell after small area light exposure

With the help of the Amag rolling GmbH a small area of one cell was exposed to a very intense and
focused light beam of an optical microscope. The cell was illuminated for half an hour and the current
was measured under short circuit. The current was rising very strong in the first few minutes and then
sinking nearly linear, while one could observe a very strong optical degradation on the illuminated area.
Area of
illumination
Figure 21 Degradation under spot illumination

The interesting fact about this experiment is that only one day later the optical degradation (brown point)
was gone. It looks as if the cell is able to “recover” from light exposure. Effects of regeneration of the cell
have already been published 9 , but there is no explanation for it at the moment. As described in chapter
5.3 we want to see if these effects of degradation and regeneration also happen to the Ru-dye.
3.4 Stability of the dye

3.4.1 Stability test under UV-light
Six Petri dishes with the same amount of hibiscus dye solvent (10ml) were used. Three of the dishes (No.
1-3) were stored under UV light (λ=366nm) and the other three (No. 4-6) in an absolutely dark ambiance.
In each 2 Petri dishes 0,5g and 2g of titanium dioxide (obtained from Merck, purity: p.a.) were added.
After just 48 hours the Petri dishes with the hibiscus dye showed the following effect:
Figure 22 Degradation of the dye with TiO2 under UV light
The dye solvent that was under exposure to UV light showed an extreme degradation. The more TiO2, the
stronger the degradation (1:0g TiO2; 2:0,5g TiO2; 3:2g TiO2).
After this experiment it is clear that the exposure to UV light has to be prevented by all means.
3.4.2 Stability test under sunlight

The glass already filters a lot of the UV light that comes from the sun. That is why the same experiment
as above with sunlight and a glass bottle needed to be performed. 100ml of the hibiscus dye were put
into 2 equal bottles and 10g of titanium dioxide (same as above) were added into one of the bottles.
A stronger degradation with the use of TiO2 was determined but one could also observe a strong
degradation without the use of the photo catalytic substance.
Sample 1 (with TiO2) Sample 2 (no TiO2)
2,5 2,5
2 2
absorption
absorption
1,5 0 days 1,5 0 days
5 days 5 days
1 140 days
1 140 days
0,5 0,5
0 0
300 400 500 600 700 800 300 400 500 600 700 800
w avelength/nm w avelength/nm

Even after 140 days there is a dye with an absorption maximum at 350nm in the solvent. Surprisingly
enough it is still in the solvent with TiO2 too. For the use in the DSC it would be really interesting to find
biological dyes which are as stable as this yellow dye.
3.4.3 Degradation of the dye on the TiO2 layer

The dye itself gets already destructed just because of the sunlight. Our team was able to prove that on
different glass plates. This degradation also happens due to the UV light of the sunlight.
Figure 23 Degradation of the dye on the titanium dioxide layer
3.4.4 Stability of dye-absorption on TiO2

As already mentioned our team could not really explain the effect of decoloration of the cells at certain
areas (chapter 3.2.2). Especially the dependency on illumination was very interesting; therefore an
experiment to analyze this phenomenon was developed.
A TiO2 coated glass was sensitized with hibiscus dye and split into three pieces. One piece was put into a
clear bottle of H2O/ethanol (1/1) and stored under sunlight. The other piece was stored in the same
solvent in the darkness. The third piece was just a control standard and was stored dry and illuminated.
The results were very interesting – it was observed that the color of the TiO2 layer depends on the
exposure of light.
Figure 24 Comparison between the dye-absorption in H2O/Ethanol 1/1 in the dark (left) and under illumination
(right) for 2 hours under sunlight
To analyze this phenomenon, a more detailed test was done. The solvent that the titanium dioxide layer
lay in was varied: distilled water, ethanol, acetonitrile and petroleum were used.

Figure 25 Dependency of decoloration on used solvent and its polarity
As shown in Figure 25 the effect of decoloration depends on the used solvent and its polarity. The same
experiment was done with the Ruthenium dye but no degradation was observed – the color stayed the
same. This result will be discussed in chapter 4.2.

4 Discussion
4.1 Efficiency of our low cost cells
Contrary to our expectations the power output of the produced low-cost cells was fairly good. Especially
the graphite counter electrode showed very good results in comparison to the platinum coated electrode
(see chapter 3.1.2).
Since there are no certified and calibrated solar simulators in our labs at our school we contacted the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich to test our cells in their labs. Unfortunately this has not been
possible before we had to finish this paper. But those results will be presented at the fair in May in San
Jose.
Especially the dependency of the efficiencies on the resistance of the TCO glass and the size of the cells
will be tested intensively. The company “solaronix” provided very low resistance TCO glass plates that we
are going to test in comparison to the cheap heat-isolating window glass that we were using for this
project.
4.2 Effect of decoloration

Besides the variation of the cell components, a lot of work was done to identify the degradation
processes in the cells. One of the most interesting results is the decoloration of the titanium dioxide
layers (colored with a hibiscus extract) in a solvent under sun light. This effect depends very strongly on
the polarity of the solvent.
Our team thinks that there are two possible explanations for this result:
1. The bonding force over the carboxyl group to the titanium dioxide layer is weaker than the one of
the ruthenium dye and the hibiscus dye simply dissolves into the solvent.
2. The dye molecule reacts with the solved oxygen (that is just available in polar solvents) and light
to a keto form. Through a shift in the resonance frequency of the dye molecule it gets invisible
(does not absorb visible light anymore) This theory seems to be more likely since we lately found
a report in the literature that shows exactly this sort of degradation in an anthocyanin.
Figure 26 Degradation mechanisms that were reported in the literature 10

One would be able to prove these explanations with the help of an IR spectrometer. If there was a
substance in the solvent that has not been there before the experiment, the molecule would have to
dissolve from the titanium dioxide layer.
4.3 Repeatability of measurement results

To be able to compare components in the dye sensitized solar cell just by building a cell and comparing it
to another one is very difficult. The fluctuation of the power output of 2 cells that were built in exactly the
same way is sometimes too big to draw any conclusions out of the measurement. Not only the variation
between two series of cells but also the variation in one series of cells is occasionally too large.
This is mainly because of the deviation of the titanium dioxide layer and the thickness of the electrolyte
layer. Because of that we often had to repeat one comparison a few times until we were able to draw a
reasonable conclusion. In the following table our team wanted to show how big the deviation between
two cell series and within one series is. All the cells were built completely identical. After looking for an
answer why this first series is the best we have ever built we found out that the titanium dioxide plates
were further in the back of our furnace and therefore maybe heated to a higher temperature than
normal. Another explanation is that the graphite counter electrodes were heated in a drying oven
because the furnace was occupied. Maybe this drying oven heats the plates in a more accurate way than
the furnace does. The graphite coating is very sensible for higher temperatures than 200°C.
Date open circuit short circuit light intensity

[dd.mm.yyyy] Dye voltage /mV current /mA mW/cm²
02.02.2010 hibiscus in ethanol/water 1/1 460 4 30
02.02.2010 hibiscus in ethanol/water 1/1 450 5,2 30
4.4 Economic aspects

A photovoltaic cell has to be stable for at least 15 years – from an economic point of view. At least this is
the request to scientists who develop such cells. But many people simply forget about the most
important characteristics of a solar cell:
- Cost for 1 watt electric power
- Amortization time in comparison to life time
- CO2 balance
- Net energy gain (comparison of used energy to produced energy over the life time)
A silicon solar cell is more or less stable, but the production costs are extremely high and need a lot of
energy. This is the reason why the characteristic numbers mentioned above are quite bad. Especially the
price for 1 watt electric energy is still too high (1.5-2$) in comparison to fossil fuels.
DSCs probably will not be stable for 10 years, but the net energy gain in comparison to the costs are
responsible for the economical use of a solar cell. At the moment expensive Ruthenium-dyes and
platinum counter electrodes are used in DSC’s. Although experts often say they are very cheap, our team
does not believe that - this is the reason why low cost materials were used in this report to produce the
cells. Prof. Dr. Peter Douglas from the University of Swansea, whom we got to know from the
“International Youth Science Forum London”, described the future prospects of the DSC like that:
„All that said I am convinced work on alternative energy sources must continue; we see the
price, reliability etc. against a background of very cheap energy. I think the really important
analysis is the total energy required to make the cells compared to the energy they will
produce over their lifetime. If this ratio is significantly greater than 1 then it is worth doing”

5 Conclusions
After a lot of work for this project, we would like to reflect our work and our results:
5.1 Conclusions of the results

Over 50 different cells were produced to determine their power output in dependency of the used
components. Especially the graphite counter electrode showed very promising results (see chapter
3.1.2). Certified efficiency measurements will take place in April and will be presented at the fair.
A very interesting new method of characterizing the dye was presented. The illumination is cut down to a
small part of the photoactive area – the other cell characteristics stay the same (cell width, TCO glass
resistance, surface area of the counter electrode). The open circuit voltage and short circuit current are
measured and compared with the results under full illumination. This percentage showed that the
ruthenium dye is capable of producing more electrons than the hibiscus dye under these conditions (see
chapter 3.1.5).
Furthermore UV stability tests of the dye have been done. It was shown that special anthocyanins are
able to withstand the UV light (see chapter 3.4.2). More research needs to be done to find dyes with this
stability.
Long term stability experiments showed a very interesting electrical degradation (see chapter 3.2.1) in
form of a rising short circuit current and falling open circuit voltage. Unfortunately our team had to cut
back on these experiments because the electronics was destroyed while transporting the experiment set
up to a local fair.
Moreover optical degradation was shown as well – experiments were done that showed that there is a
degradation of the dye in contact with a polar solvent and illumination. Two possible explanations for this
effect were discussed (see chapter 4.2).
5.2 What would we do differently if we repeated this project?

Unfortunately the project evolved different than we had expected because the time-consuming long-term
experiment set up did not work as well as we expected because it was destroyed.
If we repeated this project we would be even more persistent than we have already been. This should
mean that we started to get in contact with experienced people were late and we would have saved a lot
of time if we had contacted them sooner.
We would also buy all the widely-used components sooner (hot-melting foil to seal the cells, expensive
low resistance TCO glass) and after testing them, we would have tried our new low-cost components and
not the other way around.
Furthermore we would have designed a “master plate” with always for example 4 or 5 cells on one plate.
It would be possible to calculate the average of those cells and make it easier to compare different
components.
But we think that all in all we can be very proud of what we have achieved.
5.3 Future Prospects

There are lots of tests and experiments we have not done yet. A lot more variations of the cell would be
possible, but it would take years to finish the project, if this would even be possible. Therefore we
focused on several special issues, which we will investigate within the next four weeks:
The first and maybe most important one is to specify the absolute efficiency of our cells. In March we got
into contact with the Ludwig-Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich. In the Department of Physics we
have the possibility to measure the efficiency with certified measurement equipment. Furthermore we
can measure the IPCE value (Incident-Photon-to-electron Conversion Efficiency), which describes the
efficiency of the cell in dependency of the wavelength of the irradiated light.
We also had contact with the department of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry. After signing a
nondisclosure agreement, we got access to perylene dyes, which were developed by them. Our team will
test them in the following weeks if they are capable of producing electrons in a dye sensitized solar cell.

As described in 3.3, a strong optical degradation occurs, when a small area is illuminated. It is not sure
which components are responsible for this sort of degradation and regeneration. We will repeat this
experiment with different components - especially the ruthenium dye will be tested intensively.
The company “solaronix” donated some professional substances (TiO2 suspension, TCO glass, hot-
melting foil), that we are going to compare to our low-cost substances.

6 Personal Resume and acknowledgements

Well, what did we learn from that project? Of course, it is not always easy to work without money or bad
possibilities for literature research. Nevertheless, we learned that the only two things that are absolutely
necessary for a project like this are motivation and ambition. Even without lots of resources we worked
in a very complex field of science and were able to present new results and ideas. In addition, what is
special about this project is that we describe all our results and experiments in detail, hoping that more
cooperation in science and a free know-how transfer between all scientists – from students to university
professors – can be achieved. We really believe that this would accelerate the development of
renewable energy sources.
At this point we would like to thank everyone who helped us to get this far. First and foremost our project
teacher – Dr. Wolf Peter Stöckl. He was always there for us when we had any questions, encouraged us
and helped us to get in contact with experienced people. Thank you very much!
Furthermore we would like to thank the following people:
• All chemistry professors at our school who always had an open ear for us
• Mr. Casata from the Amag rolling GmbH who helped us making some great pictures of our
titanium dioxide coatings
• Mr. Schneeberger who helped us with know-how in the field of glass and glass coatings.
• Prof. Langhals, Dr. Esterbauer, Mr. Wiedemann from the Ludwig-Maximilian University
• Prof. Peter Douglas from the University of Swansey
• Dr. Toby Meier from the company solaronix
Moreover we would like to thank all universities and companys that we had contact with:

7 Literature
7.1 Internet resources
• http://www.chemgapedia.de/vsengine/vlu/vsc/de/ch/6/ac/bibliothek/_vlu/iod.vlu/Page/vsc/d
e/ch/6/ac/bibliothek/iod/reaktivitaet.vscml.html
• http://www.cmc-klebetechnik.ch/cmc-klebeband-metall.0.html
• http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/ProductDetail.do?N4=142379|ALDRICH&N5=SEARCH_C
ONCAT_PNO|BRAND_KEY&F=SPEC
• http://www.fmf.uni-freiburg.de/materialforschung/pg_life/solar/farbstoffsolarzellen
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dye-sensitized_solar_cell
• http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthozyane
• http://www.degussa.de/degussa/de/produkte/produktdatenbank/default.htm?action=details&
page=1&pid=31500&rno=1
• http://www.ise.fhg.de/geschaeftsfelder-und-marktbereiche/solarzellen/farbstoff-und-
organische-solarzellen/materialentwicklung/materialentwicklung
• http://www.zukuenftigetechnologien.de/nanotecture/hinsch_praesentation.pdf
• http://www.ipht-jena.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Journal/00_Lehre/Photovoltaik_WS08.pdf
• https://www.fh-
muenster.de/fb1/downloads/laboratorien/ac/Versuchsvorschrift_Graetzel_Zelle.pdf
• http://www.hs-
weingarten.de/home/studiengaenge/pt/de/labore/physikalisches_praktikum_2/pdf/va_solar_f
arbstoff1.pdf
• http://www.lehrer-online.de/dyn/bin/609426-609469-1-praktikumsanleitung.pdf
• http://www.science-forum.de/download/graetzelmittel.pdf
• http://www.physik.uni-bielefeld.de/didaktik/Experimente/Bezugsquellen.pdf
• http://www.physik.uni-bielefeld.de/didaktik/Experimente/Solar1.pdf
• http://www.univie.ac.at/pph/ecophys/photobio/doc/GraetzelZelle.pdf
• http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-
bin/dokserv?idn=968555535&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=968555535.pdf
• http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/receive/FUDISS_thesis_000000002568
• http://www.jufo-mbs.de/mediapool/50/505700/data/Die_Graetzelzelle_-
_Bundeswettbewerb.pdf
• http://www.freidok.uni-freiburg.de/volltexte/2570/pdf/Dissertation_Uli_Wuerfel_2006.pdf
• http://www.freidok.uni-
freiburg.de/volltexte/2623/pdf/Sastrawan_Photovoltaic_modules_of_dye_solar_cells_Dissertati
on.pdf
• http://www.freidok.uni-freiburg.de/volltexte/29/pdf/29_1.pdf
• http://biblion.epfl.ch/EPFL/theses/2004/2955/EPFL_TH2955.pdf
• http://www.helmholtz-
berlin.de/media/media/oea/web/pr_webseite/druckschriften/berichte/2000/jb_0401_se5u6.
pdf
7.2 Scientific Journals

• A.Hinsch et.al., Long term stability of dye sensitized solar cells for large area power applications
(LOTS-DSC). 16th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, Glasgow
2000. 2000
• Dongshe Zhang et. al., Room-Temperature Synthesis of Porous Nanoparticulate TiO2 Films for
Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2006, 16, 1228–1234.
• Raúl Pozas et. al., Building Nanocrystalline Planar Defects within Self-Assembled Photonic
Crystals by Spin-Coating. Adv. Mater. 2006, 18, 1183-1187.

• Seigo Ito et.al., High-Efficiency Organic-Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Controlled by Nanocrystalline-

TiO2 Electrode Thickness. Adv. Mater. 2006, 18, 1202–1205.
• Hyung-Jun Koo et. al., Nano-embossed Hollow Spherical TiO2 as Bifunctional Material for High-
Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 195-199.
• Thomas W. Hamann et. al., Aerogel Templated ZnO Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Adv. Mater. 2008,
20, 1560-1564.
• F.O.Lenzmann et.al., Recent Advances in dye-sensitized solar cells. Advances in OptoElectronics.
2007, 10 pages.
• Fan-Tai Kong et. al., Review of Recent Progress in Dye Sensitized Solar cells. Advances in
OptoElectronics. 2007, 13 pages.
• P. de Almeida et. al., Microstructure Characterisation of titanium dioxide nanodispersions and
thin films for dye-sensitized solar cell devices. Appl. Phys. A. 2004, 79, 1819-1828.
• Jinsoo Kim et. al., Sol-Gel Synthesis and Spray Granulation of Porous Titania Powder. Chem. Ing.
Tech. 2001, 73, 461-468.
• Pan Xu et. al., Effects of TiO2 Film on the Performance of Dye-sensitized Solar
Cells Based on Ionic Liquid Electrolyte. Chin. J. Chem. 2005, 23, 1579—1583.
• DDAI Song-Yuan et.al, Optimum Nanoporous TiO2 Film and Ist Application to Dye-sensitized solar
cells. Chin. Phys. Lett. 2003, 20, 953-955.
• Yasuo Chiba et.al., Dye-sensitized solar cells with conversion efficiency of 11.1%. Jpn. J. Appl.
Phys., Part 1 . 2006, 45, 638-640.
• P.M. Sommeling et.al, Long-term stability testing of dye-sensitized solar cells. J. Photochem.
Photobiol., A . 2004, 164, 137-144.
• Tatsuo Toyoda et. al., Outdoor performance of large scale DSC modules . J. Photochem.
Photobiol., A . 2004, 164, 203-207.
• Kenichi Okada et.al., 100mm*100mm large sized dye sensitized solar cells. J. Photochem.
Photobiol., A . 2004, 164, 193-198.
• Yutaka Amao et. al, Preparation and properties of dye-sensitized solar cell using chlorophyll
derivative immobilized TiO2 film electrode. J. Photochem. Photobiol., A . 2004, 164, 47-51.
• Peng Wang et.al., Charge Seperation and Efficient Light Energy Conversion in Sensitized
Mesoscopic Solar Cells Based on Binary Ionic Liquids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 6850-
6856.
• Daibin Kuang et.al., Co-sensitization of Organic Dyes for Efficient Ionic Liquid Electrolyte-Based
Dye sensitized solar cells. Langmuir. 2007, 23, 10906-10909.
• Brian O'Regan and Michael Grätzel, A low-cost high efficiency solar cell based on dye sensitized
colloidal TiO2 films. Nature. 1991, 353, 737-739.
• R. Kern et. al., Long term stability of dye-sensitised solar cells for large area power applications.
Opto-Electron. Rev. 2000, 8, 284-288.
• Th. Dittrich, Porous TiO2: Electron Transport and Application to Dye Sensitized Injection Solar
Cells. phys. stat. sol. (a). 200, 182, 447-455.
• Yoshikazu Suzuki et. al., Direct synthesis of an anatase-TiO2 nanofiber/nanoparticle composite
powder from natural rutile. phys. stat. sol. (a). 2007, 204, 1757–1761.
• Hinsch et.al, Long term stability of Dye-sensitized solar cells. Prog. Photovoltaics Res. Appl.
2001, 9, 425-438.
• R. Grünwald et.al, Mechanisms of Instability in Ru-Based Dye Sensitization Solar Cells. J. Phys.
Chem. B. 1997, 101, 2564-2575.
• P. M. Sommeling et.al., Influence of a TiCl4 Post-Treatment on Nanocrystalline. J. Phys. Chem. B.
2006, 110, 19191-19197.
• Qing Wang et.al., TiO2 Films in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. J. Phys. Chem. B. 2006, 110, 25210-
25221.

7.3 Endnotes
1 B. O’Regan, M.Grätzel, Nature 353, 737-739 (1991)

2 L.Han et. al., “High Efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells and module”, Proceedings of the 4th IEEE World
Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, p. 178-182, Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA, May 2006
3 P.M. Sommeling et.al, Long-term stability testing of dye-sensitized solar cells, Journal of Photochemistry and
Photobiology At Chemistry, Vol.164 (2004), p.137-144

4 Jander Blasius, Lehrbuch der analytischen und präparativen anorganischen Chemie, 16.Auflage, S.Hirzel Verlag
Stuttgart, Seiten 280, 283, 284.

5 E. Rijnberg et.al, Long-Term Stability of Nanocrystalline Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells,
www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/1998/rx98033.pdf, 1998
6 The fill factor (FF) is the quotient of (Vmp*Imp)/(Voc*Isc) where Vmp and Imp describe the voltage and current at the
maximum power point.

7 Hervé Nusbaumer, Alternative Redox Systems for the Dye-sensitized solar cell, thesis, École Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne
8 A. Hinsch et al., Long term Stability of Dye sensitized solar cells for large area power applications (LOTS DSC),
16th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, Glasgow 2000
9 R. Sastrawan, http://www.freidok.uni-
freiburg.de/volltexte/2623/pdf/Sastrawan_Photovoltaic_modules_of_dye_solar_cells_Dissertation.pdf, 2006
10 Paxis der Naturwissenschaften – Chemie in der Schule: Anthocyane als Photosensibilisatoren für Titandioxid;
Kress, S., Bohrmann-Linde, C., Aulis Verlag Deubner: Köln und Leipzig, 2005, pp. 24-30.

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Research on the usability of low-cost materials

in dye sensitized solar cells

Students: Andreas Wagner (team leader)

Project Teachers: Dr. Wolf Peter Stöckl

2 Materials and Methods .......................................................................................................................................... 5

6 Personal Resume and acknowledgements .........................................................................................................25

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl

1.1 State of the Art

• sealing of the aggressive iodine electrolyte

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 1

1.3 Theoretical background

1.3.1 Working Principle

Figure 1 working principle of the DSC Figure 2 components of the DSC

1.3.2 Efficiency limiting effects of the DSC

1.3.3 Long term stability

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 2

1.3.4 Titanium dioxide layer

1.3.5 Counter electrode

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 3

1.3.8 Mind map

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 4

2 Materials and Methods

Figure 5 four of the first prototypes

2.1 Instruction sheet to build a dye sensitized solar cell

2.1.1 List of all materials to build a DSC

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 5

• dye solution (hibiscus extract in H2O/Ethanol 1/1)

2.1.2 Detect the conductive side

2.1.3 Place spacers

Figure 6 drawing that shows how to place the tape

2.1.4 Clean the glasses

2.1.5 Coat the working electrode with titanium dioxide

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 6

Figure 7 Three coatings of TiO2

2.1.6 Temper the working electrode

2.1.7 Put the working electrode into the dye solution

2.1.8 Produce the counter electrode

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 7

2.1.9 Fill the cell with electrolyte

2.1.10 Put the two electrodes together

2.1.11 Seal the cell

Figure 9 Picture of a finished cell sealed with epoxy resin

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 8

2.1.12 Contact the cell

Figure 11 A completed cell electrically conducted with silver conductive paint

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 9

2.2 Experiment set-up for Long-Term Stability Research

Figure 12 block diagram of the experiment set up

Figure 13 experiment set up to measure 30 DSCs

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 10

Figure 14 circuit diagram of the multiplexer electronics

Figure 15 board connection diagram of the multiplexer electronics

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 11

2.3 DSC – Data logger

2.4 Research on the chemical stability of the dye

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 12

3.1 Measurement results

3.1.1 Dependency on used dye

open circuit voltage

©Andreas Wagner, Jürgen Köchl Page 13

3.1.2 Dependency on the counter electrode coating

Open curcuit voltage Short curcuit current Illumination

Quantity of graphite Open curcuit voltage Short curcuit current Illumination