title: Recovering degraded quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells by applying electrical pulses.
abstract: We discovered a method of applying a forward pulsed bias to recover the degraded quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Up to 30.7% of the power conversion efficiency (η) of a degraded poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) based DSSC was recovered by a double-pulse. The recovered η remained higher than that before the double-pulse treatment for at least 28 days. It is deduced that the blocking of ion-transport channels in the quasi-solid-state electrolyte causes degradation of the DSSCs. This study will shed light on the efficiency enhancement and long-term stability of quasi-solid-state DSSCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xuezhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hongrui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004573:Electrolytes; D011145:Polyvinyls / Q000737:chemistry; D012993:Solar Energy; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry; D005465:Fluorocarbon Polymers
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D004573:Electrolytes; D011145:Polyvinyls; D014025:Titanium; C009495:titanium dioxide; C024865:polyvinylidene fluoride; D005465:Fluorocarbon Polymers
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