A Preliminary Exploration And Study For Flexible Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells using transparent conductive plastic substrates have attracted a number of interests because they can reduce both the weight and the cost of the device. Plastic substrates can not endure high temperature. Therefore, at low temperature it is significant to prepare Ti02 thin film electrodes on the plastic.Firstly, the flexible dye-sensitized solar cells based on low temperature process were studied. TTIP is macromolecule organic materials and also easily be hydrolyzed into TiO₂. Through the ethylene glycolether, TTIP with the P25 powder mixing, grinding, configured TiO₂ slurry, and then coated on conductive flexible PEN substrate. Secondly, it was hydrolyzed in deionized water at 50℃for 10min after dry naturally. Finally, it was sintered for 4h under the conditions of 140℃. Through the measurement about the microstructure of thin film and performance of solar cells, it has proved that the amount of TTIP is determinant factor. 0.5 g P25 TiO₂ nano-powder added 0.12ml of TTIP is the good condition for the fabrication of relatively high performance solar cells. Using TTIP in flexible dye-sensitized solar cells is an innovative point of this article.Then, we have studied other factors on the quality of flexible thin-film TiO₂ 1. We compared the use of ethanol and ethylene glycol ether as a dispersion agent on the quality of flexible TiO₂ thin-film. The results have shown that use of glycol ether as a dispersing agent is better than those using ethanol as a dispersing agent for flexible TiO₂ thin film. 2. We also have found that the hydrolysis is better than no hydrolysis for flexible TiO₂ thin film. 3. Relatively higher sintering temperature is better for the improvement of the performance photovoltaic cells. However, taking into account the flexible substrate can withstand the temperature, so the sintering temperature of this experiment will be set at 140℃, sintering time 4h, in order to make sure complete decomposition of organic residues. 4. We have studied the film thickness on the quality of flexible TiO₂ thin film. Results showed that when TiO₂ thin-film thickness is 14μm, photovoltaic cells have relatively good performance.Finally, we made a preliminary study on the flexible cathode electrode. In this thesis, sputtering method is used to prepare flexible cathode electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. Analysis of different sputtering time on the surface morphology of flexible cathode electrode and the performance of the whole cell proved that when 10min sputtering time is the best...