Excitation energy transfer from long-persistent phosphors for enhancing power conversion of dye-sensitized solar cells

Incorporation of inorganic phosphors to improve the spectral absorption range of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is a promising strategy to enhance efficiency beyond 15%. However, only marginal improvements have been achieved so far, which is mainly due to the use of nonoptimized device architect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2016-06, Vol.93 (24), Article 245301
Main Authors: Puntambekar, Ajinkya, Chakrapani, Vidhya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter
Devices
Energy density
Energy transfer
Excitation
Phosphors
Photovoltaic cells
Solar cells
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Summary:Incorporation of inorganic phosphors to improve the spectral absorption range of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is a promising strategy to enhance efficiency beyond 15%. However, only marginal improvements have been achieved so far, which is mainly due to the use of nonoptimized device architecture and the lack of understanding of the energy transfer mechanism. Here we report results of DSSCs employing long-persistence phosphor coupled to the sensitizing dye. Detailed time-resolved photoluminescence measurements suggest that excitation energy is transferred radiatively as opposed to Forster resonance energy transfer. As a result of efficient energy transfer, large-area solar cells show a 63% increase in the photocurrent density along with a 54% increase in power conversion efficiency. In addition, the device works as a "nighttime solar cell" with generation of 52[mu]Wcm super(-2) power density in the dark. Under short-circuit conditions, the device can output 300 mV for 30 h in the dark.
ISSN:2469-9950
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.93.245301