The monolithic multicell: a tool for testing material components in dye‐sensitized solar cells

A multicell is presented as a tool for testing material components in encapsulated dye‐sensitized solar cells. The multicell is based on a four‐layer monolithic cell structure and an industrial process technology. Each multicell plate includes 24 individual well‐encapsulated cells. A sulfur lamp corrected to the solar spectrum has been used to characterize the cells. Efficiencies up to 6·8% at a light‐intensity of 1000 W/m^su2 (up to 7·5% at 250 W/m²) have been obtained with an electrolyte solution based on γ‐butyrolactone. Additionally, a promising long‐term stability at cell efficiencies close to 5% at 1000 W/m² has been obtained with an electrolyte based on glutaronitrile. The reproducibility of the cell performance before and after exposure to accelerated testing has been high. This means that the multicell can be used as an efficient tool for comparative performance and stability tests. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.