Melt-infiltration of spiro-OMeTAD and thermal instability of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells
(2014) In Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 16(10). p.4864-4870- Abstract
A method for achieving complete pore-filling in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells termed melt-infiltration is presented: after the customary solution-processed deposition of spiro-OMeTAD, the device is heated above the glass transition temperature of spiro-OMeTAD to soften the material and allow capillary action to pull additional spiro-OMeTAD from the overlayer reservoir into the pores. The pore-filling fraction increases from 60-65% to 90-100% as a result of melt-infiltration. The organic D-π-A dye used in this study is found to withstand the thermal treatment without performance loss, unlike ruthenium-based dyes. Through our experiments, we find that the 4-tert-butylpyridine (tBP) additive, commonly used in... (More)
A method for achieving complete pore-filling in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells termed melt-infiltration is presented: after the customary solution-processed deposition of spiro-OMeTAD, the device is heated above the glass transition temperature of spiro-OMeTAD to soften the material and allow capillary action to pull additional spiro-OMeTAD from the overlayer reservoir into the pores. The pore-filling fraction increases from 60-65% to 90-100% as a result of melt-infiltration. The organic D-π-A dye used in this study is found to withstand the thermal treatment without performance loss, unlike ruthenium-based dyes. Through our experiments, we find that the 4-tert-butylpyridine (tBP) additive, commonly used in dye-sensitized solar cells, evaporates from the device during heat treatment at temperatures as low as 85 °C. This significantly impacts device performance, potentially excluding its use in commercial applications, and demonstrates the need for a more thermally stable tBP alternative. Melt-infiltration is expected to be a viable method for achieving complete pore-filling in systems where volatile additives are not required for operation.
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- author
- Bailie, Colin D. ; Unger, Eva L. LU ; Zakeeruddin, Shaik M. ; Grätzel, Michael and McGehee, Michael D.
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
- volume
- 16
- issue
- 10
- pages
- 7 pages
- publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84894180788
- ISSN
- 1463-9076
- DOI
- 10.1039/c4cp00116h
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 5deecf9d-b22b-41ce-b80a-b39272d6ff30
- date added to LUP
- 2021-01-23 12:30:00
- date last changed
- 2022-04-26 23:56:03
@article{5deecf9d-b22b-41ce-b80a-b39272d6ff30, abstract = {{<p>A method for achieving complete pore-filling in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells termed melt-infiltration is presented: after the customary solution-processed deposition of spiro-OMeTAD, the device is heated above the glass transition temperature of spiro-OMeTAD to soften the material and allow capillary action to pull additional spiro-OMeTAD from the overlayer reservoir into the pores. The pore-filling fraction increases from 60-65% to 90-100% as a result of melt-infiltration. The organic D-π-A dye used in this study is found to withstand the thermal treatment without performance loss, unlike ruthenium-based dyes. Through our experiments, we find that the 4-<i>tert</i>-butylpyridine (<i>t</i>BP) additive, commonly used in dye-sensitized solar cells, evaporates from the device during heat treatment at temperatures as low as 85 °C. This significantly impacts device performance, potentially excluding its use in commercial applications, and demonstrates the need for a more thermally stable <i>t</i>BP alternative. Melt-infiltration is expected to be a viable method for achieving complete pore-filling in systems where volatile additives are not required for operation.</p>}}, author = {{Bailie, Colin D. and Unger, Eva L. and Zakeeruddin, Shaik M. and Grätzel, Michael and McGehee, Michael D.}}, issn = {{1463-9076}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{10}}, pages = {{4864--4870}}, publisher = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}}, series = {{Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics}}, title = {{Melt-infiltration of spiro-OMeTAD and thermal instability of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4cp00116h}}, doi = {{10.1039/c4cp00116h}}, volume = {{16}}, year = {{2014}}, }