Densely packed siloxane barrier for blocking electron recombination in dye-sensitized solar cells

Donghoon Song, Hyosung An, Jung Hyun Lee, Hyungwoo Choi, In Sung Park, Jong Man Kim, Yong Soo Kang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

A challenge in developing photovoltaic devices is to minimize the loss of electrons, which can seriously deteriorate energy conversion efficiency. In particular, minimizing this negative process in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) is imperative. Herein, we use three different kinds of siloxanes, which are adsorbable to titania surfaces and polymerizable in forming a surface passivation layer, to reduce the electron loss. The siloxanes used are tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS or compound A), 1-(3-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)propyl)-3- (3-triethoxysilyl) propyl) urea (compound B), and N-(3-triethoxysilylpropyl)- N′[3-(3-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium) propyl] urea iodide (compound C). Titania surface passivation by either compound B or C was comparatively more effective in increasing the electron lifetime than TEOS. In the case of small-sized TEOS combined with either large-sized compound B or C, a thinner and denser passivation layer was presumably developed, thus increasing electron lifetime further. Intriguingly, device AB shows the longest electron lifetime, whereas device AC has the highest energy conversion efficiency among these experimental conditions. These results suggest that, in this special case, the electron lifetime may not be a dominant parameter in determining the energy conversion efficiency.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)12422-12428
Number of pages7
JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume6
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 13 2014

Keywords

  • coadsorbents
  • dense packing
  • dye-sensitized solar cells
  • electron recombination
  • siloxanes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Densely packed siloxane barrier for blocking electron recombination in dye-sensitized solar cells'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this