Worldwide first fully up-scaled fabrication of 60 × 100 cm2 dye solar module prototypes

Large-scale (6000 cm2) dye solar cell modules were developed using a meander and integrated series connection design in combination with a glass frit-sealing technique. The manufacturing process, as developed at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) for glass frit-sealed dye solar cell modules, is based entirely on screen printing and does not require the interconnection of sub-modules. With the same technique and appropriate quality control, a good reproducibility on smaller-scaled modules (10 × 10 cm²) is already achieved and a solar efficiency of 7.1% on the active area has been reached, resulting in 5.3% efficiency on total aperture area. The scope of the recent work is to prove that the manufacturing concept is up-scalable to attractive areas for the building-integrated photovoltaic market. For the size of 60 × 100 cm² to be reached, it was necessary to transfer each process step into an industrial environment. Additionally, a half-automated station for coloring and electrolyte filling made out of standard parts was constructed, which forms the basis for the final processing steps. Additional functions (processes and quality control) to ensure the long-term stability are integrated into the station. First operating module prototypes have been manufactured with this equipment. Different processing steps and the electrical characterization of these first 60 × 100 cm2 prototypes are presented along with an overview of the advantages of this module concept in terms of cost effective up-scaling and transfer to industrial production. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.