Self-assembled free-standing polypyrrole nanotube membrane as an efficient FTO- and Pt-free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells.

The construction of nanoporous conductive polymer membranes has potential applications in catalysts and energy-conversion devices. In this letter, we present a facile method to prepare free-standing polypyrrole (PPy) nanotube films by simply heating pulp-like homogeneous suspensions at a low temperature, which can be employed as a novel counter electrode (CE) to substitute for the expensive fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass and Pt used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The DSSCs assembled with these paper-like PPy membranes show an impressive conversion efficiency of 5.27%, which is about 84% of the cell with a conventional Pt/FTO CE (6.25%).

Highly uniform, bifunctional core/double-shell-structured ß-NaYF4:Er3+, Yb3+ @ SiO2@TiO2 hexagonal sub-microprisms for high-performance dye sensitized solar cells.

Highly uniform core/double-shell-structured ß-NaYF4:Er(3+),Yb(3+)@SiO2@TiO2 hexagonal sub-microprisms are prepared and employed in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) internally. This work paves a facile way to enable the most-efficient upconversion material (ß-NaYF4:Er(3+),Yb(3+)) to be used as scattering and upconversion centers in the photoelectrode of a DSC.

In situ prepared transparent polyaniline electrode and its application in bifacial dye-sensitized solar cells.

Highly uniform and transparent polyaniline (PANI) electrodes that can be used as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were prepared by a facile in situ polymerization method. They were used to fabricate a novel bifacially active transparent DSSC, which showed conversion efficiencies of 6.54 and 4.26% corresponding to front- and rear-side illumination, respectively. Meanwhile, the efficiency of the same photoanode employing a Pt counter electrode was 6.69%. Compared to conventional Pt-based DSSCs, the design of the bifacial DSSC fabricated in this work would help to bring down the cost of energy production due to the lower cost of the materials and the higher power-generating efficiency of such devices for their capabilities of utilizing the light from both sides. These promising results highlight the potential application of PANI in cost-effective, transparent DSSCs.

Enhancement in dye-sensitized solar cells based on MgO-coated TiO(2) electrodes by reactive DC magnetron sputtering.

A surface modification method was carried out by reactive DC magnetron sputtering to fabricate TiO(2) electrodes coated with insulating MgO for dye-sensitized solar cells. The MgO-coated TiO(2) electrode had been characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis spectrophotometer, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The study results revealed that the TiO(2) modification increases dye adsorption, decreases trap states and suppresses interfacial recombination. The effects of sputtering MgO for different times on the performance of DSSCs were investigated. It indicated that sputtering MgO for 3 min on TiO(2) increases all cell parameters, resulting in increasing efficiency from 6.45% to 7.57%.

End-functional silicone coupling agent modified PEO/P(VDF-HFP)/SiO(2) nanocomposite polymer electrolyte DSSC.

The end-functional silicone coupling agent (dodecyl-trimethoxysilane, DTMS for short) was used to modify the PEO/P(VDF-HFP)/SiO(2) nanocomposite polymer electrolyte (CPE) and the different amounts of DTMS modification effects were studied. The experiments showed the silicone coupling agent with hydrophobic alkyl chains (-C(12)H(25)) chemically engineered on the SiO(2) nanoparticles, and formed a Si-O-Si cross-linked network in the new nanocomposite polymer electrolyte. Proper content of DTMS modified CPE exhibited improved ionic conductivity and the connection with the photoanode and counter electrode. However, much higher content of the DTMS modification changed the conformation of the polymer network and reduced the ionic movement. Compared with the performance (3.84%) of the original DSSC, the DSSC with functional silicone coupling agent modified CPE (DTMS:SiO(2) = 2:1, mol ratio) exhibited improved J(sc) (7.94 mA cm(-2)), V(oc) (0.624 V) and optimal efficiency (5.2%) (measured at AM1.5, light intensity of 58.4 mW cm(-2)). The V(oc) of the silicone coupling agent modified polymer electrolyte DSSC is obviously improved, which is mainly due to that the hydrophobic alkyl chain end groups formed an insulating layer that retarded the electron recombination at the TiO(2) nanoporous photoanode/polymer electrolyte interface. The DTMS:SiO(2) = 2:1 modified CPE type DSSC exhibited a performance of 6.42% at a light intensity of 32.1 mW cm(-2) and 4.94% at 99.2 mW cm(-2).