HOPV12 - Blogs

4 th Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaic Conference -Uppsala 2012 90
B44 - Formation of N719 Dye Multilayers on Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Photoelectrode
Surfaces
Lilian Ellis-Gibbings a , Viktor Johansson b , Rick B Walsh c , Lars Kloo b , Jamie S Quinton a , Gunther G
Andersson a
a, Flinders Centre for NanoScale Science and Technology, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, 5001,
Australia
b, Applied Physical Chemistry, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, S-10044 Stockholm, Sweden
c, Department of Applied Mathematics, Research School of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National
University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
The structure of the dye layer adsorbed on the titania substrate in a dye-sensitized solar cell
is of fundamental importance for the function of the cell, since it strongly influences the
injection of photoelectrons from the excited dye molecules into the titania substrate.
The adsorption isotherms of the N719 ruthenium-based dye were both determined with a
direct method using the depth profiling technique Neutral Impact Collision Ion Scattering
Spectroscopy (NICISS) and with the standard indirect solution depletion method. It is found
that the dye layer adsorbed on the titania surface is laterally inhomogeneous in thickness and
growth already from low coverage levels involving a combination of monolayers and
multilayers. It is also found that the amount of N719 adsorbed on the substrate depends on
the titania structure.
The present results show that dye molecules in dye-sensitized solar cells are not, as
presumed, necessarily adsorbed as self-assembled monolayer on the substrate.
© SEFIN 2012