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Transparent bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells based on an electrochemically polymerized organic counter electrode and an iodine-free polymer gel electrolyte

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Abstract

Bifacial transparent dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) assembled with a highly transparent poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) counter electrode (CE) and a non-absorptive iodine-free polymer gel electrolyte were developed. The PEDOT CEs were obtained via a facile in situ electrochemical polymerization method. Different charge capacities were applied in the polymerization process, and the PEDOT CEs were optimized with high transparency (>90 %) and favorable activity for catalyzing the reaction between the redox couples in the electrolyte. The gel electrolyte was prepared using an ionic liquid (1,2-dimethyl-3-propylinmidazolium iodide, DMPII) as the charge transfer intermediate and a polymer composite (PEO/PVDF-HFP) as the gelator without the addition of iodine. Besides high conductivity, the iodine-free electrolyte presented non-absorption in visible light region. The assembled bifacial DSSC device showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.35 % under front-side irradiation, and 4.98 % under rear-side irradiation with intensity of 100 mW cm−2, which approached almost 80 % of that of the front-side irradiation. These promising results demonstrated the potential of these transparent organic CE and non-absorptive polymer gel electrolyte for further applications such as developing transparent bifacial photovoltaics.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support by Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (The Startup Foundation for Introducing Talent of NUIST), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (863, No. SS2013AA50303), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61106056), and the Nature Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2008CDA042). The authors also thank the Center for Nanoscaled Characterization and Devices of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO) for their help during the scanning electron microscopy tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Yaoguang Rong

  2. Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Zhiliang Ku

  3. Michael Grätzel Center for Mesoscopic Solar Cells, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Yaoguang Rong, Zhiliang Ku, Xiong Li & Hongwei Han

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  1. Yaoguang Rong
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  4. Hongwei Han
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Correspondence to Yaoguang Rong.

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Rong, Y., Ku, Z., Li, X. et al. Transparent bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells based on an electrochemically polymerized organic counter electrode and an iodine-free polymer gel electrolyte. J Mater Sci 50, 3803–3811 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8945-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8945-9

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