Fabricataion of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells With Enhanced Energy Conversion Efficiency

Abstract

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) represent a cheap and clean technology that harnesses solar energy efficiently and have been intensively studied. How to further decrease the production cost meanwhile enhance device performance becomes the bottleneck for DSSC commercialization. The thesis focuses on the development of new materials with the motivation to further enhance energy conversion efficiency of DSSCs. Firstly, electrospinning technique has been employed to prepare ZnO and TiO2 nanofibers, which serve as efficient photoelectrodes in DSSCs. Secondly, a novel conjugated polymer with unique D-p-A structure has been synthesized and demonstrated as promising sensitizer in DSSCs. Thirdly, high-performance solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (SDSCs) have been successfully fabricated by using organic dye as sensitizer and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as hole transporting material. In addition, the relationship between new materials and the corresponding device performance is uncovered, which provides guidelines for future material and device design.