Issue 17, 2013
From the journal:

Nanoscale

Functionalization of nanomaterials by non-thermal large area atmospheric pressure plasmas: application to flexible dye-sensitized solar cells†

Heesoo Jung,a   Jaeyoung Park,b   Eun Sang Yoo,c   Gill-Sang Han,c   Hyun Suk Jung,*c   Min Jae Ko,d   Sanghoo Parke  and  Wonho Choe*e  

* Corresponding authors

a Agency for Defense Development, 160, Bugyuseong-daero 488beon-gil, Yoseong-gu, Daejeon 305-152, Korea

b 5771 La Jolla Corona Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA

c School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Janan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeongi-do 440-746, Korea
E-mail: hsjung1@skku.ac.kr
Tel: +82-31-290-7403

d Photo-Electronic Hybrids Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 5, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-791, Korea

e Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea
E-mail: wchoe@kaist.ac.kr
Tel: +82-42-350-2539

Abstract

A key challenge to the industrial application of nanotechnology is the development of fabrication processes for functional devices based on nanomaterials which can be scaled up for mass production. In this report, we disclose the results of non-thermal radio-frequency (rf) atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) based deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles on a flexible substrate for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Operating at 190 °C without a vacuum enclosure, the APP method can avoid thermal damage and vacuum compatibility restrictions and utilize roll-to-roll processing over a large area. The various analyses of the TiO2 films demonstrate that superior film properties can be obtained by the non-thermal APP method when compared with the thermal sintering process operating at 450 °C. The crystallinity of the anatase TiO2 nanoparticles is significantly improved without thermal agglomeration, while the surface defects such as Ti3+ ions are eliminated, thus providing efficient charge collecting properties for solar cells. Finally, we successfully fabricated a flexible DSSC with an energy conversion efficiency of 4.2% using a transparent plastic substrate. This work demonstrates the potential of non-thermal APP technology in the area of device-level, nano-enabled material manufacturing.

Graphical abstract: Functionalization of nanomaterials by non-thermal large area atmospheric pressure plasmas: application to flexible dye-sensitized solar cells

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3NR01889J
Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Apr 2013
Accepted
13 Jun 2013
First published
14 Jun 2013

Nanoscale, 2013,5, 7825-7830

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Functionalization of nanomaterials by non-thermal large area atmospheric pressure plasmas: application to flexible dye-sensitized solar cells

H. Jung, J. Park, E. S. Yoo, G. Han, H. S. Jung, M. J. Ko, S. Park and W. Choe, Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 7825 DOI: 10.1039/C3NR01889J

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