A high-efficiency dye-sensitised solar cell prototype has been designed and fabricated by a team in China. The working electrode and counter electrode are in direct contact and are singly twisted with the cell sealed in a capillary. The cell could be woven into fabric for solar powered smart fabrics, power suits and solar modules.
The power conversion efficiency of one cell 9.5 cm in length can reach up to 5.41% under standard test conditions (100 mW cm-2) and the power output may double under intense diffuse illumination.
The researchers add that as far as they know, this is the longest and most efficient fibre-shaped dye-sensitised solar cell consisting of a liquid electrolyte. The longer the fibre-shaped solar cell, the more suitable it is for woven solar power textile if it is encapsulated in a transparent flexible plastic capillary, they say.
Read the PCCP paper in full:
Reference:
Z Lv, Y Fu, S Hou, D Wang, H Wu, C Zhang, Z Chu and D Zou, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1cp20543a
