Study of supercapacitors for use in dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract

The storage of energy generated by photovoltaic system is one problem of it. In this aspect, integrated energy conversion and storage systems, IECSS, using supercapacitors are presented as a solution. Dye sensitized solar cell becomes a main candidate for use in IECSS due its variety of applications. Recent studies shown that zinc oxide (ZnO) is a natural candidate for use in solar cells and supercapacitor due to its high energy density of the order 650 A g-1. The aims of this paper were: i) the study of the influence of the morfology of nanostructured ZnO nanoparticles obtained by the hydrothermal method using distincts complexing agents: etylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA); hexamethyltetramine (HMT) and diaminometanal (urea), besides commercial ZnO; ii) study of the ZnO and activated carbon at ratio X:Y of 10:90, 20:80 and 30:70 in proportion of mass (%) in the preparation of electrodes. The commercial ZnO, which presents particles with spherical and porous morphology, presented the best capacitance result 8.38 Fg-1 at 10:90 ratio, that demonstrates the ZnO is an excellent candidate for material for supercapacitor coupled with dye solar cell.