Additional Study on the Laser Sealing of Dye-Sensitized Solar-Cell-Panels Using V 2 O 5 and TeO 2 Containing Glass

The effective glass frit composition used to absorb laser energy and to seal commercial dye-sensitized solar cell panel substrates has been previously developed using V2O5-TeO2-based glass with 10 wt% beta-eucryptite as a CTE controlling filler. The optimum sealing conditions are provided using a 3 mm beam, a laser power of 40 watt, a scan speed of 300 mm/s, and 200 irradiation cycles. In this study, the feasibility of the developed glass frit is investigated in terms of the sealing strength and chemical durability against the commercial iodide/triiodide electrolyte solution and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode in order to increase the solar cell lifetime. The sealing strength of the laser-sealed V2O5-TeO2-based glass frit is 20.5 +/- 1.7 MPa, which is higher than those of thermally sealed glass frit and other reported glass frit. Furthermore, the developed glass frit is chemically stable against electrolyte solutions. The glass frit constituents are not leached out from the glass after soaking in the electrolyte solution for up to three months. During the laser sealing, the glass frit does not react with the FTO electrode; thus, the resistivity of the FTO electrode beneath the laser-sealed area remains the same.