Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC)
Photovoltaic solar cells are used to convert solar light into electricity. In 1991 O’Regan and Graetzel realized a prototypes solar cell with good efficiency with materials at low-cost in respect to silicon solar cell.
DSSC (Dye Sensitized Solar Cell) are made of multilayer materials with selected band gap that allow photon adsorption and electron injection in the conduction band of the anodic material to produce electric energy. Heart of the system is a semiconductor layer (generally TiO2) that can either receive the high energy electrons coming from the dye and support the dye itself. For both functions the porous structure is highly important and must be carefully optimized.
ISTEC is main
ly involved in the design and optimization of the semiconductor ceramic layers and of the glass ceramic sealing (Figure).
The solar cell prototype is ideated in view of its industrial production; for this reason the selection of materials and processing are directed toward the minimization of time production and costs.
- screen printing,
- tape casting,
- spin coating.
well known by the ceramic industry in order to speed up their potential commercialization. The microstructure and morfhology of the single layer is analyzed through common electronic and optical microscopy to link the DSSC structure to its efficiency.
