The team of Prof. Tae-ho Park (CE), Jongcul Lim (CE Ph.D. candidate), and Taewan Kim (CE M.S.-Ph.D. candidate) announced technology that can solve electron recom- bination and dye reproduction problems at the same time and significantly increase efficiency. This technology was introduced as the December cover of Energy & Environmental Science, which is internationally prestigious journal of the energy field.
Dye-sensitized solar cells are easy to design and have diverse application methods. However, due to problem of electron recombination and low reproduction, commercialization has been difficult. The research team developed technology that makes electron produced in solar cells play the role of ladders that can move to electrode well by using a new material named tris-butenyloxy benzoic acid (TD), which has a double bond. This new material also can be used to activate the Iodine ion’s oxidation.
This research was sponsored by the Center for Advanced Soft Electronics (part of the Ministry of Science), ICT, and Future Planning progress.