Preparation of the Working Electrode of Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Using Screen Printing with Alkyd Resins

AbstractDye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) showing relatively high conversion efficiency can be prepared using a simple screen printing method. While most manufactures prepared the DSSC working electrode using ethyl cellulose (EC) based coating pastes, alkyd resin (AR) based coating pastes are used in this work. Since AR is a polyester modified by the addition of fatty acids and other components, AR based paste is expected to show better contact with the poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flexible substrates. The DSSC working electrode film was screen printed on a FTO glass using a stencil screen or a stainless steel cloth screen with an EC based commercial P200 paste or an AR based paste. An EC based paste shows a porous film structure and an AR based paste shows a uniform dense film and a good printing characteristic, which is ideal for multi-layer printing. According to the results of photovoltaic performances of the corresponding DSSC, DSSC with AR based pastes were found to be compatible with the performance of the reference DSSC with commercially EC based P200 pastes