Performance and stability improvements for dye-sensitized solar cells in the presence of luminescent coatings

• A multifunctional photocurable fluoropolymeric light-shifting coating is proposed.
• A luminescent agent in the coating shifts near-UV photons to VIS wavelengths.
• A 60% improvement of the DSSC efficiency was measured.
• An aging test was carried out outdoor for more than 2000 h.
• Light-shifting coating allows both efficiency and stability improvements.

Here we present how the sunlight radiation incident on a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) can be shifted of a few tens of nanometers by means of an economical, easy to prepare and multifunctional photocurable fluoropolymeric light-shifting (LS) coating, to achieve both improved efficiency and device stability. By the introduction of a very small amount of a luminescent agent in the LS coating, the down-shifting of near-UV photons to higher wavelengths easily harvestable by the organic dye of a DSSC is successfully demonstrated. This optical effect not only results in an over 60% improvement of the power conversion efficiency of DSSC devices, but the UV light filtering action promoted by the luminescent agent also provides protection to the photosensitive DSSC components. This aspect, combined with a potential thermal shielding effect and the easy-cleaning behavior imparted to the coating by its fluorinated nature, leads to excellent device stability as evidenced from an aging test performed outdoors under real operating conditions for more than 2000 h. Our study demonstrates that the use of light-cured multifunctional coatings with light management characteristics at the nanometer scale represents a new promising strategy to simultaneously increase the performance and durability of DSSC devices.

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