Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV14)
Publication date: 1st March 2014
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC), acting as the device that conversion solar light to electric, have been extensively studied for the simple assembling technology, the potential low cost and their environment friendly.[1]In the past decade, much effort has been done to promote commercialization of this potentially low cost thin film photovoltaic (PV) technology. [2-4]And many researchers were involved in the design of the modules, followed by the report of over 11% efficiency which indicates the probability of DSC commercialization.[5]
With respect to the present status of PV technologies, improvements in three areas have to be made for DSC, that is, the costs, applicability and sustainability.We paid more attention to high efficiency DSC research, and dedicated to DSC module commercialization, including the design of large-scale module, the simulation of high efficiencies, stability and the outdoor operation of panels since 2000. Based on DSC module design, optimization of key materials and assembly technology, high efficiency modules and panels for outdoor use were obtained in our lab. Efficiency of 8.3% under one sun with active area of 63.6 cm2 was obtained in our lab. The most important is that thephotostability of DSC with 0.1 M GuSCN could retain over 98 % of its initial photoelectric conversion efficiencyvalue under one sun light soaking over the time of 1,000 days. Currently, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) has finished the commissioning and test running of its 0.5 MW pilot DSC production line. This pilot line can produce 300 cm2 large DSC solar cells with efficiency over 6% at a finished-product rate more than 95%. The 5 KW demonstration station of DSC has finished at the end of 2012 and is working now. 0.5 MW pilot DSC production line successfully running show the potential low cost and feasibility for the power station as a means of generating electricity in the near future.
[1] Oregan B, Gratzel M, A Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Solar-Cell Based on Dye-Sensitized Colloidal TiO2 Films. Nature, 1991, 353(6346), 737-740. [2] Spath M, Sommeling P M, van Roosmalen J A M, et al, Reproducible manufacturing of dye-sensitized solar cells on a semi-automated baseline. Progress in Photovoltaics. 2003, 11(3), 207-220. [3] Dai S Y, Weng J, Sui Y F, et al, The design and outdoor application of dye-sensitized solar cells. Inorganica Chimica Acta, 2008, 361(3), 786-791. [4] He ZC, Zhong C, Shu SJ, et al, Enhanced power-conversion efficiency in polymer solar cells using an inverted device structure. Nature Photonics, 2012, 6(9), 591-595. [5] Liyuan Han, Yasuo Chiba, Ashraful Islam, et al, Integrated dye-sensitized solar cell module with conversion efficiency of 8.2%. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2009, 94(013305).