Increased light harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells using Förster resonant energy transfer
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) are an emerging photovoltaic technology with the potential for large scale manufacturing and low cost processing. However, the power conversion efficiency of DSCs must increase from 11% to 14% to be commercially competitive with conventional solar cell technologies. DSCs do not completely absorb all of the photons from the visible and near infrared portion of the solar spectrum and consequently have lower short circuit photocurrent densities compared to inorganic photovoltaic devices. A variety of sensitizing dyes have been explored, but it is extremely challenging to develop a single sensitizing dye that can absorb strongly in the visible and near-infrared spectrum. The focus of this doctoral thesis is on developing fundamentally new DSC architectures which incorporate energy transfer processes in order to improve light harvesting. Chapter One will introduce the conventional dye-sensitized solar cell architecture and general operating principles for photocurrent generation. Chapter Two will focus on the general theory behind Forster Resonant Energy Transfer (FRET) and modeling of the average excitation transfer efficiency (ETE), which is the fraction of excited dyes that undergo energy transfer to the sensitizing dye, inside of the DSC. Chapter Three describes a new design where energy relay dyes unattached to the titania absorb high energy photons and transfer their energy to the sensitizing dye via Förster resonant energy transfer. This architecture allows for stronger and broader spectral absorption for the same film thickness. In liquid DSCs, we demonstrate a 26% increase in power conversion efficiency when using an energy relay dye with an organic, near-infrared sensitizing dye and show that the average excitation transfer can be greater than 95%. Chapter Four demonstrates that energy relay dyes can be mixed inside of a solid, organic hole conductor (e.g. spiro-OMeTAD) for solid-state DSCs. Chapter Five describes the concept of using energy relay dyes, cosensitized on the TiO2 surface, that directly absorb near-infrared light and undergo energy transfer to a neighboring a Ruthenium based metal ligand complex (i.e. C106). Near-infrared energy relay dyes have the potential to increase light harvesting in the 700-800 nm portion of the spectrum and can be implemented in state-of-the-art DSC systems. The final chapter will briefly describe the opportunities for future study and potential commercialization of DSCs.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Copyright date | 2011 |
| Publication date | 2010, c2011; 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Hardin, Brian E |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering |
| Primary advisor | McGehee, Michael |
| Thesis advisor | McGehee, Michael |
| Thesis advisor | Cui, Yi, 1976- |
| Thesis advisor | Peumans, Peter, 1975- |
| Advisor | Cui, Yi, 1976- |
| Advisor | Peumans, Peter, 1975- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Brian Eugene Hardin. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2011 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by Brian E. Hardin
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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