Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), based on use of a black counter electrode (BCE) and thin TiO2 electrode (photoelectrode), have been developed to reduce related manufacturing costs. Despite their effectiveness in lowering manufacturing cost, the above DSSCs have a low photovoltaic performance, owing to their insufficient light harvesting efficiency. This work presents a novel metal-based light scattering layer (MLSL), which can be formed either on a black counter electrode or on a thin TiO2 electrode, to reflect the light passing through the latter. The proposed MLSL increases the light harvesting efficiency from the interior of the cell, thus enhancing the photovoltaic performance of DSSC. Experimental results indicate that the proposed MLSL also reduces the internal resistance, as well as increases the electron collection efficiency of DSSC, subsequently increasing the power conversion efficiency by 116%. This work also designs a low-cost external lightguide (EL), which is disposed on the exterior of photoelectrode of DSSC, to direct light towards the dye-covered nanoporous TiO2 film (D-NTF) of the photoelectrode. Incorporating EL can increase the light harvesting efficiency from the exterior of the cell, thus enhancing the photovoltaic performance of DSSC. Furthermore, in addition to increasing the light harvesting efficiency by 30.69%, the proposed EL increases the photocurrent density by 38.12% and power conversion efficiency by 25.09%.

Aim of this work is to construct dye sensitized solar cells employing core shell type nanocrystalline FTO/TiO2 photoanodes. Fluorine doped tin dioxide (FTO) nanoparticles were synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. Homogeneously precipitated SnO2 nanoparticles were dispersed in aqueous solutions containing NH4F as fluorine source and heat treated at 180oC for 24 hours. X-Ray analysis revealed that particles show rutile type cassiterite structure. Particles had 50 m2/g specific surface area measured by BET. Particle size was around 15-20 nm verified by XRD, BET and SEM analysis. Electrical resistivity of the powders measured with four point probe technique was around 770 ohm.cm for an F/Sn atomic ratio of 5, which showed no further decrease upon increasing the fluorine content of solutions. Thick films were deposited by screen printing technique and SEM studies revealed that agglomeration was present in the films which decreased the visible light transmission measured by UV-Visible spectrophotometry. TiO2 shell coating was deposited by hydrolysis of ammonium hexafluorotitanate and TiCl4 aqueous solutions. Efficiency of FTO nanoparticles was enhanced upon surface treatment where best result was 4.61 % for cells treated with TiCl4. Obtained photocurrent of 22.8 mA/cm2 was considered to be very promising for the future work. Enhancement v in efficiency was mostly attributed to suppressed recombination of photoelectrons and it is concluded that improved efficiencies can be obtained after successful synthesis of FTO nanoparticles having lower resistivity values and deposition of homogeneous shell coatings.

As humanly engineered materials systems approach the atomic scale, top-down manufacturing approaches breakdown and following nature's example, bottom-up or self-assembly methods have the potential to emerge as the dominant paradigm. Synthesis of one-dimensional nanomaterials takes advantage of such self-assembly manufacturing techniques, but until now most efforts have relied on high temperature vapor phase schemes which are limited in scalability and compatibility with organic materials. The solution-phase approach is an attractive low temperature alternative to overcome these shortcomings. To this end, this thesis is a study of the rationale solution-phase synthesis of ZnO nanowires and applications in photovoltaics. The following thesis goals have been achieved: rationale synthesis of a single ZnO nanowire on a polymer substrate without seeding, design of a wafer-scale technique to control ZnO nanowire array density using layer-by-layer polymers, determination of optimal nanowire field emitter density to maximize the field enhancement factor, design of bridged nanowires across metal electrodes to order to circumvent post-synthesis manipulation steps, electrical characterization of bridged nanowires, rationale solution-phase synthesis of long ZnO nanowires on optical fibers, fabrication of ZnO nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells on optical fibers, electrical and optical characterization of solar cell devices, comparison studies of 2-D versus 3-D nanowire dye-sensitized solar cell devices, and achievement of 6-fold solar cell power conversion efficiency enhancement using a 3-D approach. The thesis results have implications in nanomanufacturing scale-up and next generation photovoltaics.

In this study, photoemission spectroscopy (PES) was used to investigate the electronic properties of nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), and cadmium selenide (CdSe). Electrospray deposition technique enabled the preparation of thin films in vacuum from a dispersion prepared outside the vacuum chamber. This method also allowed the step-wise formation of interfaces and the monitoring of the evolution of the electronic structure with intermittent PES characterization. The work function of nanocrystalline TiO2 and ZnO was measured with ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) and low-intensity x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (LIXPS). Measurements on environmentally contaminated surfaces revealed an instantaneous and permanent work function decrease of 0.3-0.5 eV upon exposure to ultraviolet radiation during a UPS measurement. The work function reduction is likely to be related to the formation of a surface dipole caused by the photo-chemical hydroxylation of surface defects. This phenomenon was further investigated with regard to its influence on the electronic structure of the indium tin oxide (ITO)/TiO2 interface found in dye-sensitized solar cells. The experiments suggest that UV radiation can cause a small but significant change of the charge injection barriers at the interface. The determined band line-ups revealed electron injection barriers of ~0.3-0.5 eV, while UV radiation caused an increase of about 0.15 eV. This might have the potential to further impede electron transfer to the ITO electrode and affect the performance of solar cell device. Another type of photovoltaic cell using nanocrystalline material is a heterojunction bulk solar cell. Conversion efficiencies of such devices are currently only about 3% due to the inefficient charge separation at interfaces formed by blending organic and inorganic material. An approach to improve efficiencies in such devices is the use of covalently bonded conductive polymer/inorganic hybrid nanocrystals. In this study a prototypical model system was investigated with PES with the aim to develop a measurement protocol that allows the determination of electronic properties for such hybrid materials. The comparison of the relative core-level binding energies of the organics-functionalized CdSe nanocrystal compared to the ligand-free CdSe nanocrystal and the arylselenophosphate ligand material enabled the determination of the electronic structure at the interface. Core-level measurements support the hypothesis that the Se functionality of the organic ligand coordinates to the Cd sites on the nanopthesis surface.

Interligand electron transfer (ILET) may be an essential parameter for the injection ofan electron from the dye into the semiconductor surface of a dye sensitized solar cell(DSSC). Without an efficient injection, competing recombination paths may become apparent. For the future development and design of DSSCs, with the hope of increased energy conversion efficiencies, the ILET dynamics is of great importance. For a long time, the most impressive DSSCs were sensitized with polypyridyl ruthenium dyes for which injection has shown to vary from sub-ps to ns duration. It may therefore be crucial to find means of studying the underlying reasons for the slow injection and in this thesis such an attempt has been made. ILET dynamics has been examined using fs Transient Absorption Anisotropy Spectroscopy in both the IR and Visible. This was done for two ruthenium dye complexes: N712 (cis-diisothiocyanato-bis(2,2’-bipyridyl-4,4’-dicarboxylate)ruthenium(II)) and RuL3 (tris(2,2’-bipyridyl-4,4’-dicarboxylate) ruthenium(II)) which are among the best performing dyes in DSSCs. The initial anisotropy was used to determine whether the excitation is localized on the photoselected ligand or delocalized over the available bipyridyl ligands. The depolarization dynamics of the anisotropy decay showed that the ILET must occur on the sub-ps time scale, resulting in rapid loss of the memory of which ligand was photoselected in the absorption process. This means formation of a metal-to-ligand-charge-transfer state that is randomized over the bipyridyl ligands. These results indicate that ILET dynamics should not limit the injection in DSSCs.

Solar cells are designed to transform the optical energy into electrical energy. Using solar energy is the best way for humans to solve the energy shortage problem. Dye sensitized solar cell(DSSC) has a low cost and helps people to obtain the solar energy expediently. The DSSC is based on nano structured TiO2 ; and dye molecules help the particles of TiO2 to absorb more photons. Hence DSSC has higher efficiency than SC(solar cell without dye). This thesis elaborates and analyzes the dye which is sensitized to TiO2. The absorption spectrum of the dye was achieved. Two kinds of dye sample were made on the basis of their places in structure of TiO2. One dye sample is solution, nanopowder of the dye in aceton. The other dye sample is film, thin film on a quartz plate. The absorption spectrums of the samples have been measured in laboratory. The measurement suggests that the dye works improves the absorption of solar energy in DSSC. This thesis mainly contains the following sections: Chapter I reviews the solar energy technology development, the research purposes, and the principles of DSSC. Chapter II introduces the theory of optical spectroscopy. Chapter III and Chapter IV describe the apparatus employed in this experimental system, the experimental method, and the testing results. Chapter V gives the conclusions drawn from the experiments.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第21124号 / 工博第4488号 / 新制||工||1697(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科高分子化学専攻 / (主査)教授 辻井 敬亘, 教授 山子 茂, 教授 竹中 幹人 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

This master thesis is the last part of the master program Production Engineering and Management at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm. The thesis is conducted at Exeger Operations AB, in short Exeger. The company is in an expansion phase and wants to prepare for future production expansion. Thus, a simulation capability to test future production scenarios was desirable. The problem definition was defined by the company together with the authors and led to a literature study within simulation, TPS and Lean manufacturing. Following the literature study, a current state map was produced to achieve sufficient understanding of the production flow at the company. A simulation model was then built. The model was used to test three different ”what-if” scenarios. Buy or Optimize, Future ratio 3:1:1 and Buy or SMED. The authors’ findings in the Buy or Optimize scenario suggest that optimizing the process time in the printers is far better, from multiple perspectives, than investing in new machinery. A 3:1:1 ratio of printers, sinter 1 and assembly station was developed using the simulation model to achieve leveled production flow of these specific processes. Lastly, conducting a SMED on the sinter 1 machine, the setup-,and wait-times achieved a theoretical reduction up to 75 % by altering the SOP and allocating additional preparatory space, in accordance with Lean philosophy. This change would offer the same improvement to a full-scale production as investing in a new sinter 1 according to the simulation model. Future work may consist of Layout Planning and adopting the simulation model to new prerequisites.

Photovoltaic technologies use light from the sun to create electricity, using a wide range of materials and mechanisms. The generation of clean, renewable energy using this technology must become price competitive with conventional power generation if it is to succeed on a large scale. The field of photovoltaics can be split into many sub-groups, however the overall aim of each is to reduce the cost per watt of the produced electricity. One such solar cell which has potential to reduce the cost significantly is the dye sensitised solar cell (DSC), which utilises cheap materials and processing methods. The reduction in cost of the generated electricity is largely dependent on two parameters. Firstly, the efficiency that the solar cell can convert light into electricity and secondly, the cost to deposit the solar cell. This thesis aims to address both factors, specifically looking at altering the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) and substrate in the solar cell. One method to improve the overall conversion efficiency of the device is to implement the DSC as the top cell in a tandem structure, with a bottom infra-red absorbing solar cell. The top solar cell in such a structure must not needlessly absorb photons which the bottom solar cell can utilise, which can be the case in solar cells utilising standard transparent contacts such as fluorine-doped tin oxide. In this work, transparent conducting oxides with high mobility such as titanium-doped indium oxide (ITiO) have been used to successfully increase the amount of photons through a DSC, available for a bottom infra-red sensitive solar cell such as Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS). Although electrically and optically of very high quality, the production of DSCs on this material is difficult due to the heat and chemical instability of the film, as well as the poor adhesion of TiO2 on the ITiO surface. Deposition of a interfacial SnO2 layer and a post-deposition annealing treatment in vacuum aided the deposition process, and transparent DSCs of 7.4% have been fabricated. The deposition of a high quality TCO utilising cheap materials is another method to improve the cost/watt ratio. Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a TCO which offers very high optical and electronic quality, whilst avoiding the high cost of indium based TCOs. The chemical and thermal instability of AZO films though present a problem due to the processing steps used in DSC fabrication. Such films etch very easily in slightly acidic environments, and are susceptible to a loss of conductivity upon annealing in air, so some steps have to be taken to fabricate intact devices. In this work, thick layers of SnO2 have been used to reduce the amount of etching on the surface of the film, whilst careful control of the deposition parameters can produce AZO films of high stability. High efficiency devices close to 9% have been fabricated using these stacked layers. Finally, transferring solar cells from rigid to flexible substrates offers cost advantages, since the price of the glass substrate is a significant part of the final cost of the cell. Also, the savings associated with roll to roll deposition of solar cells is large since the production doesn't rely on a batch process, using heavy glass substrates, but a fast, continuous process. This work has explored using the high temperature stable polymer, polyimide, commonly used in CIGS and CdTe solar cells. AZO thin films have been deposited on 7.5um thick polyimide foils, and DSCs of efficiency over 4% have been fabricated on the substrates, using standard processing methods.

The increasing demand for renewable energy has led to substantial research on different solar cell technologies. The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) is a technology utilizing dye molecules for light absorption. Dye molecules are adsorbed to a mesoporous semiconductor surface and after light absorption in the dye, charge separation occurs at this interface. Traditionally, DSCs have used layers of single dye species, but in recent efforts to enhance power conversion efficiency, more complex molecular layers have been designed to increase the light absorption. For example, the most efficient DSCs use a combination of two dye molecules, and such dye co-adsorption is studied in this thesis. A key to highly efficient DSCs is to understand the dye/semiconductor interface from a molecular perspective. One way of gaining this understanding is by using an element specific, surface sensitive technique, such as photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). In this thesis, PES is used to understand new complex dye/semiconductor interfaces. Dyes adsorbed to semiconductor surfaces are analyzed using PES in terms of geometric and electronic surface structure.  The investigations ultimately target the effects of co-adsorbing dyes with other dyes or co-adsorbents. PES shows that Ru dyes can adsorb in mixed configurations to TiO2. Co-adsorption with an organic dye affects the configuration of the Ru dyes. As a consequence, shifts in energy level alignment and increased dye coverage are observed. The dyes are affected at a molecular level in ways beneficial for solar cell performance. This is called collaborative sensitization and is also observed in todays most efficient DSC. Dye molecules are generally sensitive to high temperatures and the substantial decrease in power conversion efficiency after heat-treatment can be understood using PES. Furthermore, comparing two mesoscopic TiO2 morphologies used in DSCs show differences in trap state density in the band gap, explaining the photovoltage difference in DSCs comprising these morphologies. Using mixed molecular layers on NiO results in significant improvements of p-type DSC power conversion efficiency. PES shows that changed adsorption configuration contribute to this effect. This thesis shows that PES studies can be used to obtain insight into functional properties of complex DSC interfaces at a molecular level.