The current state-of-the-art dye loading process for modern dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), only slightly modified from the original procedure used in the seminal 1991 report, entails dip-coating nanoporous TiO2 photoelectrodes in a concentrated solution of dye for an average of 16 hours. This process constitutes up to 80% of the fabrication time, leads to significant amounts of dye waste, and necessitates the use of organic solvents. A promising gas-phase deposition technique, coined Functionalized Carboxylate Deposition (FCD), was used to rapidly deposit a self-assembled monolayer of targeted a-carbon modified carboxylic acid containing dye molecules on TiO2 photoelectrodes. The FCD process successfully reduced the dye loading time by 98% (i.e., 15 min compared to 16 hr for FCD and dip-coating, respectively). Moreover, the FCD-sensitized photoelectrodes produced DSCs with efficiencies over 1.5 times higher than dip-coating for all dyes tested. The performance of FCD dye sensitization in this study may indicate its applicability as a foundational technology for rapid and ultra-low cost fabrication of highly efficient DSCs.

Functionalized carboxylate deposition (FCD) of sensitizers for rapid fabrication of highly efficient dye sensitized solar cells

247th National Meeting (2014)

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