Enhancing Photoelectrical Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Using Phosphor Photoelectrode

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are composed of an electrode made of a dye-adsorbed nanoporous TiO₂ layer on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate, redox electrolytes, and a counter electrode. In this study, phosphor is introduced into the TiO₂-layer electrode in a DSSC. By a conversion luminescence, YAG:Ce³⁺ phosphor improves light harvesting and increases the photocurrent production. Using a TiO₂ electrode containing 5.00 wt% mixed YAG:Ce³⁺, the light-to-electric energy conversion efficiency of the DSSC reaches 6.24%, which is higher by a factor of 1.52 than that of a DSSC without YAG:Ce³⁺.

Keywords:

• DSSC
• phosphor
• luminescence
• TiO₂
• nanoparticle
• YAG:Ce³⁺

Funding

This work was supported by the Human Resources Development program (No. 20124030200010) of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korean Government (MEST) (No. 2012R1A1A2044472).