There’s an embargo on sharing my MS thesis because of a patent application so I thought I might at least go ahead and share some of the work I presented at the NCSU graduate poster symposium 2011.
Not the best of posters but it does provide an overview of the work I did. I was able to synthesize and purify at least one dye, called NCSU-10 that performs better than the benchmark dye for DSCs called N-719.
The new dye called NCSU-10 was called RAAP during the course of my work but is being patented under a name that reflects the name of the university where the work was carried out. In simple terms, NCSU-10 performs better because it absorbs light at longer wavelengths compared to N-719. This is because it is able to harness wavelengths that N-719 can’t as it just doesn’t absorb longer wavelengths. Proof for this is shown in the the IPCE spectra in my poster.
For those who ask me what the connection between solar cells and textiles is, i’m closing this post with an image of a working solar cell I made with NCSU-10 that resembles the College of Textiles logo.
A dye sensitized solar cell fabricated at NCSU resembling the College of Textiles logo shown on top right.
What exactly is the connection between textiles and solar cells?
Is your confusion about the connection between textiles and dyes or dyes and solar cells?
Just dyes.
Dear Asim,
Nice to see your poster and congratulations for synthesizing NCSU-10. I can understand your limitations of posting details due to patent restriction but I would like to read about your thesis work, if possible, in future.
Thanks for your comments Ahsen.
In the mean time you can search for DSSC thesis on the EPFL website. They have a few up there with unrestricted access.