Highly efficient plastic-substrate dye-sensitized solar cells with validated conversion efficiency of 7.6%

We have developed highly efficient plastic-substrate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) by the press method. The conversion efficiency of plastic-substrate DSCs could be improved by adjusting the press conditions, the thickness of the TiO2 layer, and the surface treatment of the plastic-substrate. An efficiency of 8% was achieved for such cells with a 0.25 cm(2) cell area under 100 mW/cm(2) (AM 1.5, 1 sun). We also fabricated 1.111 cm(2)-sized plastic-substrate DSC that had an efficiency of 7.6%, which was validated by the national standards institute for photovoltaic measurements in Japan, the Research Center for Photovoltaics (RCPV) at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.