1. Development of Rapid Curing SiO2 Aerogel Composite-Based Quasi-Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells through Screen-Printing Technology
- Author
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Weixia Wu, Yuanyuan Liu, Yang Zhou, Jinyue Wen, Zhicheng Sun, Shouzheng Jiao, Qingqing Miao, Li Luhai, and Furong Li
- Subjects
Materials science ,Fabrication ,Graphene ,Aerogel ,Nanotechnology ,Carbon nanotube ,law.invention ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Dye-sensitized solar cell ,chemistry ,law ,Screen printing ,Polyaniline ,General Materials Science ,Quasi-solid - Abstract
Gratzel's dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) can readily convert sunlight into electricity, attracting considerable attention of global scientists. The fabrication efficiency of DSSCs was greatly limited by the slow fabrication (∼3.5-24 h) of quasi-solid (QS) electrolytes to date. In this study, novel composites of SiO2 aerogel with graphene (GR), multi-walled carbon nanotubes, or polyaniline were proposed in the fabrication of QS-state electrolytes. The morphology of these composites was characterized. The gels with SiO2 aerogels as QS electrolytes of DSSCs can be rapidly cured in ∼3 s. Using the screen-printing technology, these QS electrolytes can be readily utilized to construct the QS-DSSC to provide high efficiency and great stability. The photovoltaic parameters and interfacial charge-transfer resistances of the QS-DSSC incorporated with our synthetic composites were investigated in detail. Specifically, the SiO2 aerogel composed of GR (SiO2@GR) as a gel can greatly improve the performance of QS-DSSCs up to 8.25%. It is likely that these SiO2 aerogel composite electrolytes could provide a rapid curing process in the preparation of QS-state DSSCs, which might be useful to promote the development of DSSCs for future industrialization.
- Published
- 2020