Polymer Film Coating to Stabilize Liquid-Junction Photovoltaic Cells

2 Polymer Film Coating to Stabilize Liquid-junction Photovoltaic Cells 

As described in Section 3 of Chapter 4, the stabilization of n-Si electrode by coating with poly(pyrrole) has attracted much attention. The stabilization of a small bandgap n-semiconductor electrode against oxidation is of great value not only to convert visible light into chemical energy, but also to construct liquid-junction solar cells operated under visible irradiation. The poly(pyrrole) film is usually electropolymerized on the semiconductor electrode dipped in the aqueous solution of pyrrole. The remarkable stabilizing effect of poly(pyrrole) film on polycrystalline n-Si is shown in Fig. 22 67). The photocurrent obtained under irradiation in the aqueous solution of 

Fe2+/Fe3+ at the naked n-Si electrode drops to zero in less than 30 s, whereas the poly(pyrrole)coated n-Si gives a stable photocurrent for 5 days. The power conversion efficiency was 3 % corresponding to Isc of 3.2 mA/cm2, Voc of 0.39 V, and a fill factor of 

One problem for the coated system is that the film is peeled off after prolonged irradiation. In order to have a more adhesive film, the surface of n-Si was modified with N-(3-trimethoxysilyIpropyl)pyrrole (22). Pyrrole was then electrodeposited on this modified electrode as shown in Eq. (24) 85). The durability of the coated poly(pyrrole) was improved by such a treatment of n-Si surface. The n-Si electrode coated only with poly(pyrrole) gave a declined photocurrent from 6.5 to 1.8 mA cm-2 in less than 18 h, while the poly(pyrrole) coated n-Si treated at first with 22 as Eq. (24) gave a stable photocurrent of 7.6 mA cm-2 for 25 h. When an n-Si electrode was coated with Pt layer before the deposition of poly(pyrrole), the stability of the semiconductor was improved remarkably (ca. 19 days)85b). A power conversion efficiency of 5.5% was obtained with iodide/iodine redox electrolytes. 

If small bandgap semiconductors could be stabilized in water for much more prolonged time by polymer coating, it must lead to developments of efficient photochemical cell and water photolysis system. 

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