Electrolyte-comprising polymer nanofibers fabricated by electrospinning method and high performance dye-sensitized solar cells device using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9281131-B2
Application number	US-200913061062-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2009
Priority date	Aug 29, 2008
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

A polymer electrolyte including a polymer fiber having a nanoscale diameter, wherein the polymer fiber is fabricated by an electrospinning method and a solar cell device exhibiting high energy conversion efficiency using the same. The solid-state electrolyte comprising such nanosized polymer fiber does not need a sealing agent and further simplifies the entire process compared to a conventional dye-sensitized solar cell using liquid electrolytes. Specifically, the energy conversion efficiency of the present dye-sensitized solar cell is significantly superior to that of a dye-sensitized solar cell using a polymer film electrolyte fabricated by a spin coating method. Further, the present dye-sensitized solar cell device can be obtained by using a scattering layer and compensating the surface effect.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dye-sensitized solar cell, comprising:
a first substrate and a second substrate arranged to face each other;
a first electrode interposed between the first and second substrates, wherein the first electrode comprises an inorganic oxide layer and a dye layer chemically absorbed into the inorganic oxide layer to provide excited electrons;
a second electrode disposed opposite to the first electrode, wherein the second electrode is interposed between the first and second substrates to thereby allow an electric current to flow;
a first interface bonding layer configured to facilitate the interface bonding to the inorganic oxide layer, wherein the first interface bonding layer is disposed on the inorganic oxide layer;
a second interface bonding layer configured to prevent an inverse current, wherein the second interface bonding layer is disposed on the first interface bonding layer;
a light scattering layer interposed between the first and second interface bonding layers, said light scattering layer increasing optical absorption; and
solid electrolytes interposed between the first and second electrodes, wherein the solid electrolytes comprise polymer nanofibers fabricated by an electrospinning method and provide electrons to the dye layer by an oxidation-reduction reaction;

wherein the first and the second interface bonding layer are each independently formed from inorganic oxides in the form of nanoparticles having an average diameter between 1 and 50 nm; and
wherein the light scattering layer is formed from inorganic oxides in the form of nanoparticles having an average diameter between 100 and 500 nm.

2. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the polymer fiber is at least one polymer selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidenefluoro-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP), polyethylene oxide (PEO), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyvinylalcohol (PVA), and polymer blend thereof.

3. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the content of the polymer is from 5 to 95 percent by weight relative to the solid electrolytes.

4. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the weight average molecular weight of the polymer is from 50,000 to 1,000,000.

5. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the polymer fiber has a diameter of from 20 to 1500 nm.

6. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 1 , wherein said solid electrolytes comprise nano-sized Ag.

7. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 1 , wherein said solid electrolytes further comprise inorganic nanofillers.

8. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 7 , wherein said inorganic nanofillers are Al 2 O 3 or BaTiO 3 .

9. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the thicknesses of the first and second interface bonding layers are from 10 to 100 nm.

10. The dye-sensitized solar cell of claim 1 , wherein the dye layer is at least one dye selected from the group consisting of ruthenium based dyes, xanthen based dyes, cyanine based dyes, phorphyrin based dyes, and anthraquinone based dyes.

11. A method of preparing a dye-sensitized solar cell, comprising:
preparing a first substrate;
forming an inorganic oxide layer on one surface of the first substrate and forming a first electrode;
forming a first interface bonding layer facilitating the interface bonding to the inorganic oxide layer on the inorganic oxide layer;
forming a light scattering layer on the first interface bonding layer to increase light absorption;
forming a second interface bonding layer on the light scattering layer to prevent an inverse current;
absorbing a dye layer on the second interface bonding layer;
forming polymer nanofibers by electrospinning a polymer solution with an electrospinning device on the second interface bonding layer to which the dye layer is absorbed, applying an electrolyte solution to the polymeric nanofibers and then evaporating the applied solution to form solid electrolytes; and
forming a second electrode and a second substrate on the solid electrolytes;

wherein the first and the second interface bonding layer are each independently formed from inorganic oxides in the form of nanoparticles having an average diameter between 1 and 50 nm; and
wherein the light scattering layer is formed from inorganic oxides in the form of nanoparticles having an average diameter between 100 and 500 nm.

12. The process of claim 11 , wherein the step of forming the solid electrolytes comprises dissolving a polymer in a solvent to form a polymer solution, introducing the formed polymer solution into an electrospinner and spinning the polymer solution.

13. The process of claim 11 , wherein said polymer solution comprises nano-sized Ag.

14. The process of claim 11 , wherein said polymer solution further comprises inorganic nanofillers.

15. The process of claim 11 , wherein the polymer nanofibers are formed with an electrospinning device comprising: a voltage supplier to apply a voltage to form nanofibers; a solution transporter to regularly spray the polymer solution; an electrospinner to produce polymer nanofibers from the polymer solution transported from the solution transporter by using a voltage applied from the voltage supplier; and a collector to collect the nanofibers spun from the electrospinner.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein the electrospinner controls the gap between a spinning tip and a collector.

17. The process of claim 11 , wherein the polymer is at least one polymer selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidenefluoro-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP), polyethylene oxide (PEO), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and polyvinylalcohol (PVA).

18. The process of claim 11 , wherein the thicknesses of the first and second interface bonding layers are from 10 to 100 nm.

Assignees

• Jang Young-Wook
• Kim Mi-Ra
• Kim Young-Keun
• Jang Sung-Il
• Park Hyun-Woo
• Won Du-Hyun
• Kim Ji-Un
• Lee Jin-Kook
• Park Sung-Hae
• Solvay

Inventors

• Jang Young-Wook
• Kim Mi-Ra
• Kim Young-Keun
• Jang Sung-Il
• Park Hyun-Woo
• Won Du-Hyun
• Kim Ji-Un
• Lee Jin-Kook
• Park Sung-Hae

Classifications

• H01G9/2059

  comprising an organic dye as the active light absorbing material, e.g. adsorbed on an electrode or dissolved in solution · CPC title

• H01G9/2009

  Solid electrolytes · CPC title

• H01G9/2068 Primary

  Panels or arrays of photoelectrochemical cells, e.g. photovoltaic modules based on photoelectrochemical cells · CPC title

• Y02E10/542

  Dye sensitized solar cells · CPC title

• H01G9/2031

  comprising titanium oxide, e.g. TiO2 (H01G9/2036 takes precedence) · CPC title