Status of Dye Solar Cell Technology as a Guideline for Further Research
a Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Germany, Heidenhofstraße, 2, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV14)
Proceedings of 6th International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV14)
Ecublens, Switzerland, 2014 May 11th - 14th
Organizers: Michael Graetzel and Mohammad Nazeeruddin
Invited Speaker, Andreas Hinsch, presentation 253
Publication date: 1st March 2014
Publication date: 1st March 2014
Recently, the first commercial dye solar cell (DSC) products based on 
the mesoscopic principle were successfully launched. Introduction to the 
market has been accompanied by a strong increase in patent applications 
in the field during the last four years, which is a good indication of 
further commercialization activity. Materials and cell concepts have 
been developed to such extent that easy uptake by industrial 
manufacturers is possible. The critical phase for broad market 
acceptance has therefore been reached, which implies focusing on 
standardization-related research topics. In parallel the number of 
scientific publications on DSC is growing further (>3500 since 2012), 
and the range of new or renewed fundamental topics is broadening. A 
recent example is the introduction of the perovskite mesoscopic cell, 
for which an efficiency of 16.2 % has been certified. Thus, a growing 
divergence between market introduction and research could be the 
consequence. Herein, an attempt is made to show that such an unwanted 
divergence can be prevented, for example, by developing suitable 
reference-type cell and module concepts as well as manufacturing routes. 
An in situ cell manufacturing concept that can be applied to 
mesoscopic-based solar cells in a broader sense is proposed. As a 
guideline for future module concepts, recent results for large-area, 
glass-frit-sealed DSC modules from efficiency studies (6.6% active-area 
efficiency) and outdoor analysis are discussed. Electroluminescence 
measurements are introduced as a quality tool. Another important point 
that is addressed is sustainability, which affects both market 
introduction and the direction of fundamental research.
 
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