Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell under PWM Illumination: Toward Indoor Light-Energy Harvesting in the Solid-State Lighting Era
The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been on the market as a permanent power source for indoor IoT edge devices. In recent years, indoor illumination technology has been experiencing a drastic transition from incandescent and fluorescent lamps toward solid-state lighting devices with light-emitt...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9553 |
| _version_ | 1797459520900825088 |
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| author | Kazuya Tada |
| author_facet | Kazuya Tada |
| author_sort | Kazuya Tada |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been on the market as a permanent power source for indoor IoT edge devices. In recent years, indoor illumination technology has been experiencing a drastic transition from incandescent and fluorescent lamps toward solid-state lighting devices with light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In addition to the high power efficiency, a virtue of LEDs is their prompt response, which enables precise change of the illumination level using pulse-width modulation (PWM) of the current source, and thus PWM illumination is commonly installed in society. The light intensity change from off to on states of an LED under PWM driving is literally infinity, which causes the lighting to flicker. The lighting flicker induces not only an optical illusion but also biological effects, including serious health problems, which can be mitigated by raising the modulation frequency. Because the peak intensity of a PWM illumination can be 100 times that of the average intensity, the indoor solar cell, which has a relatively high series resistance, is expected to underperform. In this paper, the characteristics of a commercial indoor DSSC under PWM illumination are studied. It is found that while PWM illumination at low frequency seriously deteriorates the performance of the DSSC, it recovers at high frequency. The latter feature is not found in indoor amorphous-Si solar cells, and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that it stems from the electrochemical nature of some components of the series impedance in the DSSC, offering a key piece of evidence of the superiority for use in the modern indoor application of the DSSC over traditional amorphous-Si solar cells. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:52:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2e66ef85566d46cd9cc3164262c570cc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:52:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-2e66ef85566d46cd9cc3164262c570cc2023-11-24T14:39:04ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732022-12-011524955310.3390/en15249553Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell under PWM Illumination: Toward Indoor Light-Energy Harvesting in the Solid-State Lighting EraKazuya Tada0Department of Electrical Materials and Engineering, University of Hyogo, 2167 Shosha, Himeji 671-2280, Hyogo, JapanThe dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been on the market as a permanent power source for indoor IoT edge devices. In recent years, indoor illumination technology has been experiencing a drastic transition from incandescent and fluorescent lamps toward solid-state lighting devices with light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In addition to the high power efficiency, a virtue of LEDs is their prompt response, which enables precise change of the illumination level using pulse-width modulation (PWM) of the current source, and thus PWM illumination is commonly installed in society. The light intensity change from off to on states of an LED under PWM driving is literally infinity, which causes the lighting to flicker. The lighting flicker induces not only an optical illusion but also biological effects, including serious health problems, which can be mitigated by raising the modulation frequency. Because the peak intensity of a PWM illumination can be 100 times that of the average intensity, the indoor solar cell, which has a relatively high series resistance, is expected to underperform. In this paper, the characteristics of a commercial indoor DSSC under PWM illumination are studied. It is found that while PWM illumination at low frequency seriously deteriorates the performance of the DSSC, it recovers at high frequency. The latter feature is not found in indoor amorphous-Si solar cells, and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that it stems from the electrochemical nature of some components of the series impedance in the DSSC, offering a key piece of evidence of the superiority for use in the modern indoor application of the DSSC over traditional amorphous-Si solar cells.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9553dye-sensitized solar cellindoor light-energy harvestingpulse width modulationsolid-state lightinglighting flicker |
| spellingShingle | Kazuya Tada Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell under PWM Illumination: Toward Indoor Light-Energy Harvesting in the Solid-State Lighting Era Energies dye-sensitized solar cell indoor light-energy harvesting pulse width modulation solid-state lighting lighting flicker |
| title | Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell under PWM Illumination: Toward Indoor Light-Energy Harvesting in the Solid-State Lighting Era |
| title_full | Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell under PWM Illumination: Toward Indoor Light-Energy Harvesting in the Solid-State Lighting Era |
| title_fullStr | Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell under PWM Illumination: Toward Indoor Light-Energy Harvesting in the Solid-State Lighting Era |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell under PWM Illumination: Toward Indoor Light-Energy Harvesting in the Solid-State Lighting Era |
| title_short | Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell under PWM Illumination: Toward Indoor Light-Energy Harvesting in the Solid-State Lighting Era |
| title_sort | characteristics of dye sensitized solar cell under pwm illumination toward indoor light energy harvesting in the solid state lighting era |
| topic | dye-sensitized solar cell indoor light-energy harvesting pulse width modulation solid-state lighting lighting flicker |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/24/9553 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kazuyatada characteristicsofdyesensitizedsolarcellunderpwmilluminationtowardindoorlightenergyharvestinginthesolidstatelightingera |