Cutting Parameter Characterization for Kiss Cutting Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract: Printed dye-sensitized solar cells could revolutionize the way electrical products are charged, acting as a prosumer that consumes and produces electricity simultaneously. A key production step for this technology is the separation of printed cells including the removal of waste material around the printed, active area. This study shows how to use a well-known technology from a different industry, a cutter plotter, which process parameters are important, and how to choose the correct values. The selected equipment offers four key process parameters of which three showed to have an impact on the cutting result. For the cut, primarily the pressure is important. Due to variations in incoming material and heterogeneous material along the cutting edge, acceleration plays a key role as well since the pressure is regulated by a servo motor control loop. The results of this study directly benefit the production of printed dye-sensitized solar cells by improving the production’s yield.