Dye-sensitized solar cell tube

Dye-sensitized solar cell has received wide attention from the academic and industrial communities because of its high efficiency, capability for environmental protection, easy preparation, and other advantages. We designed a dye-sensitized solar cell tube with a structure that is different from the sandwich structure of the traditional dye-sensitized solar cell. The solar cell tube is characterized by potential low cost, easy recovery, better environmental protection capability, easy assembly, uncomplicated encapsulation and modularization, and 3-dimensional efficient capturing photon capability. After optimizing the materials, a solar cell tube module with an area of 2.50cm2 was assembled, and its module power conversion efficiency was up to 4.16%. Moreover, a single 15cm-long solar tube was utilized to drive a small motor on the outdoors successfully. These indicate the significant prospect of this kind of solar tube. [Display omitted] ► A novel dye-sensitized solar cell tube that is different from the sandwich structure of the traditional dye-sensitized solar cell is introduced. ► After optimizing the materials, the efficiency of an area of 2.50cm2 three dimension solar cell module achieves 4.16%. ► A single solar tube was utilized to drive a small motor (working current 10mA, working voltage 0.3V) on outdoors successfully.