An approach to laminated flexible Dye sensitized solar cells

We have built TiO2 Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) that combined flexible TiO2 photoanodes coated on ITO/PET substrates with a gel electrolyte based on PVDF–HFP–SiO2 films. Titanium isopropoxide (TiP4) was used as additive to TiO2 nanoparticles for increasing power conversion efficiency in Dye sensitized solar cell electrodes prepared at low-temperature (130 °C). An efficiency ηAM1.5G = 3.55% on ITO/PET substrates is obtained at 48 mW/cm2 illumination with a standard liquid electrolyte based on methoxypropionitrile. Among several solvents forming gels with PVDF–HFP–SiO2, N-methyl (pyrrolidone) (NMP) was found to enable the most stable devices. A power conversion efficiency ηAM1.5G = 2% was obtained under 10 mW/cm2 with flexible TiO2–ITO–PET photoanodes and the PVDF–HFP–SiO2 + NMP gel electrolyte.