Design of DSC panel with efficiency more than 6%

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs), as a new innovative technology, were developed very quickly in the past decade since Prof. M. Gratzel (EPFL) made the breakthrough in 1991 (Nature 353 (1991) 737). While photoelectric conversion efficiency of 11.04% was achieved last year in EPFL (J. Photocem. Photobiol. A: Chem. 164 (2004) 3), 8.2% was achieved with a size of 2.36 cm(2) in 2001 by the ECN group (Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 84 (2004) 125), which is a very exciting result for large scale DSCs. As potential low cost solar cells, DSC module and the panel's efficiency and stability are still critical problems to the way of marketing. We show our research in the test and design of modules and panels in the past few years at our institute. We have achieved photoelectric conversion efficiency around 6% with 15 x 20 cm(2) module, and our future primary 500 W DSC power station with the same performance 40 x 60 cm(2) panel is under way. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.