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Photovoltaic Waveguide Polymer Composite
Fareed Dawan
Southern University and A&M College
367 P.B.S. Pinchback Engineering Bldg., Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, 70813, US
Phone: 225-771-4701, Email: fareeddawan@engr.subr.edu
Treva T. Brown
NextGenC^3 Composites CREST Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Yoonyoung Jin
NextGenC^3 Composites CREST Center, Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Eyassu Woldesenbet
NextGenC^3 Composites CREST Center, Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Abstract:
Photovoltaic materials and devices have attracted heightened interest in recent years due to both
increased energy demands and noticeable adverse climate change (global warming) largely due to the
use of fossil fuels [1]. The Utilization of green energy sources such as solar cell devices would,
amongst many other impacts, reduce the carbon emissions footprint. Balancing conversion efficiency
with manufacturing costs has led to the development of flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs),
such as the Graetzel cell which utilizes the photovoltaic response of titanium dioxide [2]. Increasing
efficiency and flexibility of DSSCs is critical in determining the commercial potential of these
relatively inexpensive yet versatile devices.
Presented in this research is the fabrication of a flexible photovoltaic waveguide polymer
composite. The photovoltaic material used is a dye-sensitized titanium dioxide (TiO2) wire.
Anodization of the wire is first performed to form titanium nanotubes. The formation of titanium
nanotubes using anodization of titanium foil has been recently shown to greatly increase the efficiency
of TiO2 based DSSCs over the use of TiO2 nanoparticles [3]. This is because the growth of the
nanotubes can be controlled providing an increase in the surface area and light absorption enhancement
of the photoactive material. Solar cell modules typically suffer from loss of efficiency due to
wavelength selectivity of the top electrode material, recombination of electron-hole pairs, and
inefficient electron transfer into the bottom electrode [4]. In order to reduce these losses, the wire is
embedded into a highly refractive-indexed polymer waveguide trapping and sending the light down the
length of the wire. In this fashion, the design resembles that of an optical fiber in which the titanium
nanotube enhanced TiO2 wire serves as the core, and the polymer composite serves as the cladding.
We investigate different anodization parameters along with dye-sensitizers, various wire lengths,
various polymer composites and cell design configurations to determine the optimum parameters for
increased conversion efficiency. The performance is also investigated under different atmospheric and
environmental conditions. Furthermore, we explore the advantages of bundling the wire composites and
reducing the design into the microscale using microfabrication techniques and how the PV OF wire
composites can be utilized as an embedded power source for a multitude of applications from advanced
aircraft and vehicular structures to on-board powering of microelectromechanical systems.
351 ABSTRACTS