Solar Cells by Ultrasonic Spray Coating

Ultrafast Fabrication of Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells by Ultrasonic Spray Coating Technology. By using the newly developed and rapid pre-dye-coating or codeposition ultrasonic spray coating techniques in conjunction with CIP, we have succeeded in fabricating flexible DSC devices without requiring conventional dye soaking or high-temperature sintering processes and easily controlled the amount of dye-adsorption on the TiO2 surface. Furthermore, dye-coated electrodes were fabricated at a large scale (10 cm × 1 cm) within a very short period of time. A PCE of 4.1% was obtained using pre-dye-coating ultrasonic spray coating, and 4.0% was obtained using codeposition ultrasonic spray technology, which corresponds to 85% of the 4.7% PCE obtained using a conventional soaking process.

Although the device performances achieved with these new technologies is low compared with using state-of-the-art device architecture, the advantages of speedy device fabrication may prove a very useful and cost effective tool for indoor devices that do not require a high power density. Moreover, further optimization of the device fabrication conditions, such as employing an inert and/or low light atmosphere and fully sealing the cell, could conceivably increase its performance significantly. In addition, this concept may prove useful for fabricating multiple TiO2 layers with compensating absorption ranges to provide panchromatic absorption. These proposed new technologies are therefore believed to represent a new breakthrough in the fabrication of flexible DSC devices, particularly indoor devices, and could be readily adapted to the mass production of large-area devices in the near future.