Application of biodegradable substrates and inkjet printing in dye-sensitized solar cells

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School of Chemical Engineering | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2017-10-27
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Authors

Date

2017

Department

Biotuotteiden ja biotekniikan laitos
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

88 + app. 86

Series

Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 192/2017

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are electrochemical devices, which convert photon energy to electrical energy and they are promising alternative power unit candidates for small-scale electronics. Despite of efforts devoted to the research of DSSCs, the integration of efficient devices onto cellulose-based substrates is yet to be achieved, due to the challenging liquid electrolyte within the device. Additionally, the precursor wastage produced during the manufacture of solution processable layers, uncontrolled levels of deposition and layer positioning as well as the dependence on the pre-drilled glass substrates are not practical for many applications. The aims of this work were to determine the consequences of replacing the conventional counter electrode (CE) and glass substrate with a cellulose based alternative. Moreover, an assessment of the introduction of the inkjet printing method into the device fabrication was also performed. In first part of this thesis, alternative CEs were produced on a laminated cellulose sheet by first coating it with a carbon nanotube ink and subsequently p-toluenesulfonate doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) ink. The new CEs exhibited flexibility and low charge transfer resistance. Additionally, the cells produced with these CEs demonstrated only a 20% less efficiency compared to the reference cells with glass/fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)/platinum (Pt). The remainder of the thesis was devoted to the inkjet printing of the dye and Pt layers as well as the electrolyte of DSSCs. Initially, the three most popular electrolytes in DSSC research were characterized in terms of their physiochemical properties. Subsequently, the least dilatant electrolyte was inkjet-printed on sensitized mesoporous oxide to produce DSSCs. Thanks to this method, the device fabrication sequence was simplified and the device containing inkjet-printed electrolyte exhibited enhanced stability and less resistive losses. The conventional way of sensitizing mesoporous oxide surface entails exposure to a dilute solution of dye for long hours. In addition to the environmental burden of wasting ruthenium based dyes, the accuracy in the position and amount of the dye layer is uncontrolled. In order to overcome all these aforementioned challenges, inkjet printing was proposed as a new method for the sensitization step and the cells with inkjet-printed dyes provided the opportunity for tailor-made devices of various colors with tuned intensity. Pt, traditional catalyst for the DSSCs, is deposited by casting a drop on the FTO coated glass substrates for the lab-scale production of DSSCs, however it is both an expensive and is currently defined by the EU as a critical metal resource. In order to minimize Pt wastage and create precisely patterned catalyst layers with custom-made transparency, inkjet printing of Pt precursor was investigated. The cells with inkjet-printed catalyst exhibited a similar performance and stability to the reference cells.

Description

Supervising professor

Paltakari, Jouni, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, Finland
Santos Silva, Carlos Augusto, Asst. Prof., Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Thesis advisor

Hashmi, Syed Ghufran, Dr., Aalto University, Department of Applied Physics, Finland
Lobato, Killan, Prof. Auxiliar, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Keywords

inkjet printing, dye-sensitized solar cells, efficiency, stability

Other note

Parts

  • [Publication 1]: Hashmi, S. G., Özkan, M., Halme, J., Paltakari, J., Lund, P. D. (2014) Highly conductive, non-permeable, fiber based substrate for counter electrode application in dye-sensitized solar cells. Nano Energy, 9, 212-220.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2014.07.013 View at publisher
  • [Publication 2]: Özkan, M., Dimic-Misic, K., Karakoc, A., Hashmi, S. G., Lund, P. D., Maloney, T., Paltakari, J. (2016) Rheological characterization of liquid electrolytes for drop-on-demand inkjet printing. Organic Electronics, 38, 307-315.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.orgel.2016.09.001 View at publisher
  • [Publication 3]: Hashmi, S. G., Özkan, M., Halme, J., Dimic-Misic, K., Zakeeruddin, S. M., Paltakari, J., Lund, P. D. (2015) High performance dyesensitized solar cells with inkjet-printed ionic liquid electrolyte. Nano Energy, 17, 206-215.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.08.019 View at publisher
  • [Publication 4]: Hashmi, S. G., Özkan, M., Halme, J., Zakeeruddin, S. M., Paltakari, J., Grätzel, M. and Lund, P. D. (2016) Dye-sensitized solar cells with inkjet-printed dyes. Energy and Environmental Science, 9, 2453-2462. Full text at Aaltodoc: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201703233189.
    DOI: 10.1039/C6EE00826G View at publisher
  • [Publication 5]: Özkan, M., Hashmi, S. G., Halme, J., Karakoc, A., Sarikka, T., Paltakari, J., Lund, P. D. (2017) Inkjet-printed platinum counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Organic Electronics, 44, 159-167.DOI: 10.1016/j.orgel.2017.02.015

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Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-7650-8

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[diss] Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu / CHEM