The present invention relates to a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) comprising a porous isolating substrate (30) having a first surface and a second surface, a first porous layer (14) comprising conducting particles printed on the first surface of the porous isolating substrate to form a conductive porous layer, a second porous layer (16) comprising conducting particles printed on the second surface of the porous isolating substrate to form a conductive porous layer, whereby the porous isolating substrate is disposed between the first and second porous layers, a third porous layer (18) comprising light absorbing dye molecules deposited on the first porous layer, and a charge transfer medium for transferring charges between the third and first porous layers. Each of the porous layers comprise a printed pattern including at least one non-transparent portion (24, 25, 26) and at least one transparent portion (20, 21, 22) and the porous isolating substrate comprises at least one transparent portion (32), whereby said transparent portions of the porous layers and said transparent portion of the porous isolating substrate are positioned relative to each other so they form at least one continuous transparent pathway through the solar cell.

Methods and devices for forming painted circuits using multiple layers of electrically conductive paint. In one aspect, a painted circuit includes a substrate (111) and one or more paint layer (106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 120, 122) applied to the substrate, where the one or more paint layers each form an electrical component of the painted circuit. A given paint layer of the one or more paint layers includes a conductive paint formulation having a resistance that is defined by a concentration of conductive material that is included in the conductive paint formulation and a thickness of the given paint layer, and lower concentrations of the conductive material included in the conductive paint formulation provide a higher resistance than higher concentrations of conductive material.

A dye-sensitized solar cell having a porous conductive powder layer, which layer is formed by: deposition of a deposit comprising metal hydride particles onto a substrate; heating the deposit in a subsequent heating step in order to decompose the metal hydride particles to metal particles; and sinter said metal particles for forming a porous conductive powder layer.

An element includes a substrate; a transparent electrode provided on the substrate; a photoelectric conversion layer; and a back-side electrode, wherein the transparent electrode includes a first transparent electrode part and a second transparent electrode part which are spatially separated from each other, the photoelectric conversion layer is formed on the first transparent electrode part, and the back-side electrode includes: an electrode main body part which is present on the photoelectric conversion layer; an electrode connecting part which contacts the second transparent electrode part; and a bridge that connects the electrode main body part and the electrode connecting part.

A solar cell device having a solid state light absorber region that incorporates a donor-acceptor particle structure. The particle structure includes acceptor particles that generate a flow of electrons in the solid state light absorber region in response to absorbed photons; and donor particles comprising a phosphorescent material, wherein each donor particle is coupled to a group of acceptor particles, and wherein the phosphorescent material absorbs high energy photons and emits lower energy photons that are absorbed by the acceptor particles.

In one aspect of the invention, a dye sensitized solar cell has a counter-electrode including carbon-titania nanocomposite thin films made by forming a carbon-based ink; forming a titania (TiO.sub.2) solution; blade-coating a mechanical mixture of the carbon-based ink and the titania solution onto a substrate; and annealing the blade-coated substrate at a first temperature for a first period of time to obtain the carbon-based titania nanocomposite thin films. In certain embodiments, the carbon-based titania nanocomposite thin films may include solvent-exfoliated graphene titania (SEG-TiO.sub.2) nanocomposite thin films, or single walled carbon nanotube titania (SWCNT-TiO.sub.2) nanocomposite thin films.

The present invention relates to a photovoltaic device (1). The device comprises a solar cell unit (2) comprising a porous light-absorbing layer (3) at a top side (2a), of a porous first conducting layer (4), a porous substrate (5) of an insulating material. The solar cell unit comprises a conducting medium. The photovoltaic device comprises a first conductor (7) in electrical contact with the first conducting layer (4), a second conductor (8) in electrical contact with the second conducting layer (6), and an encapsulation (9) encapsulating the solar cell unit. The encapsulation comprises a top sheet (9a) and a bottom sheet (9b). The first and second conductors (7, 8) are arranged between the encapsulation (9) and the solar cell unit (2) at the bottom side (2b) of the solar cell unit (2). The second conductor (8) is arranged between the second conducting layer (6) and the bottom sheet (9b) of the encapsulation (9), and the first conductor (7) is arranged between the porous substrate (5) and the bottom sheet (9b). The first conductor (7) is electrically insulated from the second conducting layer (6). A part (14) of the porous substrate (5) comprises conducting material (12) disposed between the first conductor (7) and the first conducting layer (4) to provide electrical contact between the first conductor and the first conducting layer.

Provided is a carbon nanotube water dispersion with which it is possible to form a conductive film that has excellent film strength and can cause a solar cell to display excellent conversion efficiency and reliability. The carbon nanotube water dispersion is for an electrode of a solar cell that includes an electrolyte solution containing a polar aprotic substance as a solvent and contains carbon nanotubes, a dispersant, a thickener, and water. The dispersant is soluble in the solvent and the thickener is insoluble in the solvent.

A simple, one-step method for producing a homogenous CeO.sub.2—TiO.sub.2 composite thin film using aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”) of a solution containing triacetatocerium (III) and tetra isopropoxytitanium (IV) on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (“FTO”) substrate at a temperature ranging from about 500 to about 650° C. Methods for using the film produced by this method.

The present invention relates to an inorganic perovskite quantum dot-based solar cell capable of providing a significantly excellent photoelectric conversion efficiency compared to the related art by increasing a light absorption capacity even though a photoactive layer has a limited thickness. Specifically, the inorganic perovskite solar cell may include: an electron transport layer that is disposed on a transparent electrode; a photoactive layer having a flat structure that is disposed on the electron transport layer and includes inorganic perovskite quantum dots; an organic hole transport layer that is disposed on the photoactive layer and includes nanopatterns; and a back electrode that is disposed on the organic hole transport layer.