Issue 12, 2011

Rapid, continuous in situ monitoring of dye sensitisation in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Two alternative techniques to the traditional dye desorption method are presented which enable rapid, continuous in situ measurement of dye uptake in porous TiO2 films used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC). Measurement of dye uptake is crucial for the rapid up-scaling of DSC technology since currently this is a rate limiting process step typically taking hours to achieve. Most reported measurements of dye sorption have involved desorbing dye at set intervals using a base (e.g.NaOH) followed by UV-vis spectroscopy. Whilst this method is accurate and quantitative, it is time-consuming, destructive of the devices and in situ measurements are impossible. The latter are important as dyeing speeds increase. Here we present two methods to measure the temporal evolution of colour at the interface of porous TiO2 films with TCO-coated glass. The first method uses digital image capture and subsequent image analysis to extract RGB (red-green-blue) colour data enabling a rapid quantification of dye uptake over periods from seconds to hours. The second method uses UV-visible reflectance spectroscopy providing more highly resolved wavelength data; important as DSC co-sensitisation is becoming increasingly important. There is a clear correlation between the two in situ methods reported here as well as with traditional dye desorption methods for measurements made over a period of hours. These methods represent important new tools for the development of ultra-fast dye sensitisation for DSC.

Graphical abstract: Rapid, continuous in situ monitoring of dye sensitisation in dye-sensitized solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Oct 2010
Accepted
06 Jan 2011
First published
01 Feb 2011

J. Mater. Chem., 2011,21, 4321-4325

Rapid, continuous in situ monitoring of dye sensitisation in dye-sensitized solar cells

T. Watson, P. Holliman and D. Worsley, J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21, 4321 DOI: 10.1039/C0JM03607B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Spotlight

Advertisements