Through the research team of Professor Seong-yeon Jang in the Department of Bio & Nano Chemistry, the manufacturing method of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) of high efficiency in use of new nano electrode material and organic dye particle was developed.

This study is significant as it suggested a new device structure that uses organic dyestuff with high absorption coefficient and nanofiber structured non-crystalline ternary metal oxide in the field of DSSC where metal complex dyestuff and crystalline titanium oxide (TiO2) have been mainly used. This study was conducted as a core project of senior researcher supported by the Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning and National Research Foundation of Korea (Person in charge: Prof. Seong-yeon Jang, Project period: Sep. 2012 ~ Aug. 2015), and the research outcome was published for the front cover of Advanced Functional Materials, the world-renowned journal for new materials, dated on July 5th and Professor Seong-yeon Jang was introduced as the co-author. (“Amorphous Zinc Stannate (Zn2SnO4) Nanofibers Networks as Photoelectrodes for Organic Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells” Adv. Funct. Mater. 2013, 23, 3146-3155)

DSSC is being highlighted as the future solar cell that complements the flaws of silicon solar cells. It is operated through energy conversion such that when the dyestuffs are absorbed in the surface of the photoelectrode, it absorbs light and the electron generated at that time is transferred through the photoelectrode layer to realize energy conversion. Therefore, dyestuffs with high absorption coefficient that effectively absorbs solar power and photoelectrode with high electron transfer rate are considered to be the core technologies. In conventional DSSC, crystallized Nano-thick TiO2 and metal complex dyestuff are used for production; thus, most studies focus on the development of those materials.

Since metal complex dyestuff requires use of heavy materials and has low absorption coefficient whereas crystalline TiO2 produces high processing temperature and limited electron transfer performance, the research team has continuously conducted studies on organic solar cells while comprehending the limitations of such materials. Thus, they raised the issue concerning the necessity of a study to develop organic dye particle with high absorption coefficient and a new photoelectrode material with high electron transfer ability. In case of ternary metal oxide, its application as an electrode material for DSSC was recently proposed; nonetheless, there are only few cases that applied nanostructured photoelectrode as desired.

However, the research team successfully produced the dye-sensitized solar cell that is composed of new materials by synthesizing organic dyestuffs with absorption coefficient that is twice as high compared with metal oxide and absorbing it into the non-crystallized Zinc Stannate (Zn2SnO4) nanofiber structured photoelectrode that was produced through electrospinning. In case of device manufactured using this technology, it showed twice the efficiency of photoelectric conversion compared to that of the device produced using conventional metal complex dyestuff. Through the joint research with CEA-CNRS Institute in France and Advanced Materials Engineering Institute of KAIST, it was possible to realize more innovative outcomes of research and development specialized in device.

In case of the dye-sensitized solar cell that was developed in this research, it opens up the possibility of developing high efficiency DSSC device through the combination of diverse nanostructured ternary metal oxide and organic dye particles. Currently, the research team is actively promoting the research for the development of new nanostructured ternary metal oxide and improvement of efficiency in DSSC devices.