A review of textile dye-sensitized solar cells for wearable electronics

Over the last few decades, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have gained much consideration. Consequently, textile DSSCs are being looked at for their sustainability, flexibility, pliability, and lightweight properties, as well as the possibility of using large-scale industrial manufacturing methods (e.g., weaving and screen printing). These are important features in fabricating not only wearable electronic devices, but also for the large-scale harnessing of solar power from canopies, sunshades, greenhouses, covers, and other applications. Textile DSSCs are mainly of two types, i.e., yarn-type and planar-type. Electrodes in the shape of yarn or wires can be produced by coating and depositing active material onto polymeric or metallic fibers, yarns, or wires. By intertwining or twisting two yarns, namely the photo-electrode (PE) and counter-electrode (CE), a yarn-type DSSC can be formed. Instead, planar-type DSSCs can be produced by interlacing photovoltaic yarns through standard textile manufacturing processes. Alternatively, planar-type DSSCs can be produced by applying conducting layers to the planar textile structure. This review presents a concise summary of various textile structures, materials, fabrication methods, and factors affecting the performance of these two types of textile DSSCs. This also provides the challenges and limitations of each method, thus highlighting areas for potential future work.