Solar cells containing two novel superparamagnetic nanocomposites of Fe3O4-TiO2-poly(m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid)

Abstract

In this paper, two new superparamagnetic nanocomposites of poly(m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid) (PABS), TiO2 and Fe3O4 as inorganic phases were prepared by very simple solid-state polymerization of m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (m-ABS) and using FeCl3.6H2O as oxidant. These two new nanocomposites used as active layer in new hybrid and magnetic solar cells by FTO/TiO2/nanocomposite/Al structure and they have shown power conversion efficiencies (PCE or η) about 3 % under simulated solar irradiation. The important factors on enhancing the efficiency and the performance of solar cells are the presence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles, SO3- groups and TiO2 (both as a separate layer on FTO and as the inorganic phase in nanocomposites as the active layer). These fabricated solar cells were compared to similar ones and it was observed that the presence of superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles can increased the η of solar cells about 200 %. It is due to the effect of the magnetic field, spin-orbit coupling, and/or singlet fission of Fe3O4 that caused increase the triplet excitons population and consequently limit the recombination process. To more study, the photovoltaic parameters under dark were compared with ones obtained under irradiation. The other key features of this article are very simple structure and ease of fabrication of solar cell, green and one-pot synthesis conditions, less fabrication costs and high stability of the compounds. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized using FT-IR, CHNS, XRD, UV–vis, CV, VSM, TGA, IPCE, and I-V analysis. The morphology, conductivity and electrical properties of the nanocomposites were studied. The nanocomposites were electroactive and semiconductor.