Dye Solar Cell (DSC) technology has attracted continually growing interest over the last few years. One of the main incentives is to offer an alternative to silicon photovoltaics where prices have not decreased any further since mid 2004 and have plateaued just below US5 $/W_p at the retail level.
Since DSC panels are not available in commercial quantities yet, only limited information is available on product durability. The purpose of this work is to provide data on long term durability at the cell and module level through a range of accelerated tests, such as continuous exposure to artificial sun light at elevated temperature, high temperature storage, thermal cycles and humidity tests. Promising stability over 14,000 artificial sun shine hours, corresponding to more than 20 years cell life time in areas experiencing 1,000 kWh/m² annual solar irradiation (e.g. Middle Europe), has recently been demonstrated by Dyesol. Since then Dyesol has significantly progressed in electrolyte formulation and data from such systems will be presented and discussed in relationship to the observed long term changes in IV characteristsics at various light levels and based on EIS.
Prototype DSC modules were characterised by the same procedures and durability data will be presented and discussed in terms of some of the practical challenges encountered with cell-to-cell series connections, sealing of larger area panels and managing the mechanical stress issues. Finally product conformance in relationship to existing standards will be examined with particular emphasis on some of the specific characteristics of Dye Solar Cells.