Energy Conversion Research Center, Electrical Materials Research Division, Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, Changwon, South Korea.
Department of Electro-functionality Materials Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Changwon, South Korea.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 16;9(1):10273. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46748-x.
Plant leaves are efficient light scavengers. We take a 'botanical approach' toward the creation of next-generation photovoltaic cells for urban environments. Our cells exhibit high energy conversion efficiency under indirect weak illumination. We used two features of leaves to improve dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Leaves feature a cuticle, a covering epidermis, and palisade and spongy cells. Leaves are also carefully arrayed within the plant crown. To mimic these features, we first created a light-trapping layer on top of the solar cells and microscale-patterned the photoanodes. Then we angled the three-dimensional DSSCs to create submodules. These simple mimics afforded a 50% enhancement of simulated daily electricity production. Our new design optimizes light distribution, the photoanode structure, and the DSSC array (by creating modules), greatly improving cell performance.
植物叶子是高效的光捕获器。我们采取“植物学方法”来创造用于城市环境的下一代光伏电池。我们的电池在间接弱光照射下表现出高能量转换效率。我们利用叶子的两个特点来改进染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSC）。叶子具有角质层、覆盖表皮、栅栏组织和海绵组织。叶子在植物冠层内也被精心排列。为了模拟这些特征，我们首先在太阳能电池顶部创建了一个光捕获层，并对光电阳极进行微图案化处理。然后，我们将三维 DSSC 倾斜以创建子模块。这些简单的模拟方法使模拟的日电量增加了 50%。我们的新设计优化了光分布、光电阳极结构和 DSSC 阵列（通过创建模块），极大地提高了电池性能。
