The effect of electrolyte purification on the performance and long-term stability of dye-sensitized solar cells

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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Date
2015-06-29
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
10
H661-H670
Series
JOURNAL OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY, Volume 162, issue 9
Abstract
In this study the effect of the purification of electrolyte material on the performance and long-term stability of dye-sensitized solar cells is investigated. The combined effect of purifying all the electrolyte materials has been examined, as has the effect of purifying each compound to identify those compounds worth purifying and to eliminate unnecessary production steps on an industrial scale. Statistical methods were employed to draw statistically significant conclusions from the experimental results. No effect on the initial cell performance is found in this study. The purity of the electrolyte solvent (here methoxypropionitrile) is shown to have a remarkable effect on the cell lifetime: it could even double when the cell is properly purified. It is shown that exposing the cell to even relatively small amounts of UV light resulted in cell degradation through electrolyte bleaching during a 1000 hour aging test. Here the impurities in the electrolyte solvent lead to an almost doubled rate of electrolyte bleaching under UV light.
Description
Keywords
bleaching, dye solar cells electrolyte, stability, statistical analysis UV
Other note
Citation
Tiihonen , A , Miettunen , K , Rendon , S , Mavrynsky , D , Halme , J , Leino , R & Lund , P 2015 , ' The effect of electrolyte purification on the performance and long-term stability of dye-sensitized solar cells ' , Journal of the Electrochemical Society , vol. 162 , no. 9 , pp. H661-H670 . https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0671509jes