Abstract
The replacement of oxide semiconducting TiO2 nano particles with one dimensional TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs) has been used for improving the electron transport in the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Although use of one dimensional structure provides the enhanced photoelectrical performance, it tends to reduce the adsorption of dye on the TiO2 surface due to decrease of surface area. To overcome this problem, we investigate the effects of TiCl4 treatment on DSSCs which were constructed with composite films made of TiO2 nanoparticles and TNTs. To find optimum condition of TNTs concentration in TiO2 composites film, series of DSSCs with different TNTs concentration were made. In this optimum condition (DSSCs with 10 wt% of TNT), the effects of post treatment are compared for different TiCl4 concentrations. The results show that the DSSCs using a TiCl4 (90 mM) post treatment shows a maximum conversion efficiency of 7.83% due to effective electron transport and enhanced adsorption of dye on TiO2 surface.
Highlights
Since their invention in 1991, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been extensively studied as an alternative to silicon-based solar cells, owing to their simple structure, transparency, flexibility, low Materials 2014, 7 production cost, and wide range of application
As RCT1 is not affected by the use of TiO2 nanoparticles/TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs), we focused on the variations in resistance of the FTO/TiO2 and TiO2/electrolyte interfaces (RCT2)
The DSSCs were constructed with TiO2 films made from TiO2 nanoparticles and
Summary
Since their invention in 1991, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been extensively studied as an alternative to silicon-based solar cells, owing to their simple structure, transparency, flexibility, low Materials 2014, 7 production cost, and wide range of application. The overall performance of DSSCs can be limited by the electron transport in the nanocrystal boundaries of TiO2 nanoparticles and the electron recombination with the electrolyte during the electron migration process To avoid this problem, many researchers have reported that one dimensional nanostructures can be used in DSSCs as replacements of nanoparticles to facilitate electron transfer [8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. To overcome reduced dye adsorption in one dimensional structure, we investigated the effects of TiCl4 post treatment on DSSCs, combined with variations in the concentration of TNTs in TiO2 nanoparticle/TNT composites. This approach can be used for effectively increasing the dye adsorption of TiO2 films
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