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  4. Melt-infiltration of spiro-OMeTAD and thermal instability of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells
 
research article

Melt-infiltration of spiro-OMeTAD and thermal instability of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

Bailie, Colin D.
•
Unger, Eva L.
•
Zakeeruddin, Shaik M.  
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2014
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

A method for achieving complete pore-filling in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells termed meltinfiltration is presented: after the customary solution-processed deposition of spiro-OMeTAD, the device is heated above the glass transition temperature of spiro-OMeTAD to soften the material and allow capillary action to pull additional spiro-OMeTAD from the overlayer reservoir into the pores. The porefilling fraction increases from 60-65% to 90-100% as a result of melt-infiltration. The organic D-p-A dye used in this study is found to withstand the thermal treatment without performance loss, unlike ruthenium-based dyes. Through our experiments, we find that the 4-tert-butylpyridine (tBP) additive, commonly used in dye-sensitized solar cells, evaporates from the device during heat treatment at temperatures as low as 85 degrees C. This significantly impacts device performance, potentially excluding its use in commercial applications, and demonstrates the need for a more thermally stable tBP alternative. Melt-infiltration is expected to be a viable method for achieving complete pore-filling in systems where volatile additives are not required for operation.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1039/c4cp00116h
Web of Science ID

WOS:000332393200047

Author(s)
Bailie, Colin D.
Unger, Eva L.
Zakeeruddin, Shaik M.  
Graetzel, Michael  
Mcgehee, Michael D.
Date Issued

2014

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Published in
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Volume

16

Issue

10

Start page

4864

End page

4870

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LPI  
Available on Infoscience
April 14, 2014
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/102832
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