Performance improvement of dye-sensitized solar cells by surface patterning of fluorine-doped tin oxide transparent electrodes

The surface modification of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) transparent electrodes was carried out by lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching to improve the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The concentration of Cl₂ gas and dc-bias voltage to the substrate were varied as the main etch parameters. The transmittance and sheet resistance of the FTO electrodes were compared before and after etching. The DSSCs fabricated on the patterned FTO electrodes showed higher conversion efficiency than those fabricated on the ordinary FTO electrodes without patterns. Scanning electron microscopy showed that more TiO₂ particles could be involved in the DSSCs with patterned FTO electrodes, and that the contact between the TiO₂ layer and electrode were improved by patterning the FTO electrode. The current-voltage curves and incident photon to current efficiency spectra showed that a significantly higher photocurrent was produced in the DSSCs fabricated on the patterned FTO.     

ZnO nanosheet-based hierarchical microarchitectures for enhanced conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells

Hierarchical ZnO microarchitectures have been fabricated on a large scale by a simple and economical citrate-mediated hydrothermal route for application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These flowerlike architectures are constructed by many interleaving nanosheets which have ultrathin thickness of about 5 nm. Compared with the DSSCs based on other forms of nanostructures, such as ZnO nanorods and nanoparticles, the DSSCs constructed by these hierarchical ZnO microarchitectures demonstrate a remarkable enhancement in photoelectric conversion efficiency. This enhanced performance is mainly due to the large surface area of the hierarchical microarchitectures for dye loading, and their special structural feature to ensure rapid transportation of electrons. Our results suggest that this new type of ZnO nanosheet-based microarchitectures is a promising material for application in DSSCs.     

Photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cell low temperature growth of ZnO nanorods using chemical bath deposition

Nanostructured ZnO photoelectrodes were synthesized on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates that were spin-coated with a sol-gel based ZnO seed layer via a chemical bath deposition (CBD) method at varying times of 1, 2, 4, and 8 h. Then, TiO2 nanoparticulate electrodes were prepared on ZnO nanorods using the doctor blade technique. The uniformly grown ZnO nanorod layer had a length of approximately 710 nm on the FTO glass substrate with wurtzite structures which was confirmed through X-ray diffraction patterns. The length and diameter of the ZnO nanorods increased with an increase in the deposition time. The DSSCs fabricated with TiO2 nanoparticulate/grown ZnO nanorods and grown for 8 h showed the maximum efficiency (5.51%) with a short circuit current density (J(sc)) of 12.21 mA/cm2 and an open circuit voltage (V(oc)) of 0.70 at 100 mW/cm2 light intensity.     

Carbon nanotubes on fluorine-doped tin oxide for fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells at low temperature condition

The multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), electrophoretically deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), were employed as charge-collecting channels in the TiO2 photoelectrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) fabricated at 200 degrees C. The CNT-networks at the conducting substrate increased the charge collection efficiency of the porous TiO2 film, while the short circuit current increased up to ca. 43% under optimized condition. However, the significant decrease in the open-circuit voltage (Voc) up to ca. 132 mV resulted in the failure of the overall cell efficiency improvement. Findings reveal that the transfer process for the back electron is mainly responsible for the significant Voc drop when the MWCNTs were deposited at the electron-collecting substrate of the photoelectrode. The study demonstrates that electrophoretic deposition of MWCNTs on charge collecting substrate would be applicable to introduce an effective charge-collecting channel for the fabrication of flexible DSSCs under low temperature sintering condition.     

Hydrothermal synthesis of one-dimensional single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nanostructures and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells

One-dimensional (1D) TiO2 nanowire arrays are fabricated on transparent conducting substrates via a low temperature hydrothermal route for application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The as-prepared sample on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate is found to be single-crystalline rutile TiO2 structures from X-ray and electron diffractions. The length and diameter of the nanowires depend mainly on the growth time and temperature. With increasing the reaction time, the growth rate becomes slower and the interface adhesion between the growth nanowires and the substrate becomes weaker. In the same time the adjacent nanowires aggregate to larger the apparent diameter of the nanowire making the gaps among the nanowires to disappear at last. The nanowires exhibit flower-like morphology on the non-conducting surface of FTO substrate. By using TiO2 nanowire arrays with 2 microm long on FTO substrate as the photoanode in DSSCs, an overall light conversion efficiency of 1.58% is achieved with an open circuit voltage of 0.714 V, a short circuit current density of 4.68 mA cm(-2), and a fill factor of 0.472.     

PbS量子点/ZnO纳米片复合膜的制备及其光电化学性能

通过两步法合成PbS量子点(QDs)修饰ZnO纳米片复合膜. 首先利用电化学法在掺氟的SnO₂导电玻璃(FTO)上生长ZnO纳米片, 然后在ZnO纳米片上通过逐次化学浴法沉积PbS量子点形成PbS/ZnO复合膜. 利用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、X射线衍射仪(XRD)详细表征了样品的表面形貌和晶体结构, 并研究了PbS/ZnO复合膜作为量子点敏化太阳能电池光阳极的紫外-可见吸收谱、光电化学性能和表面光电压谱. 对比ZnO纳米片经PbS量子点修饰前后, 发现PbS量子点修饰后光阳极的光吸收和光伏响应均从紫外区拓宽到了可见光区, 同时光电化学性能有了显著提高, 短路电流密度从敏化前的0.1 mA/cm²增加到0.7 mA/cm², 效率由0.04%增加到0.57%. 与单一ZnO纳米片相比, PbS/ZnO复合膜的表面光伏响应强度明显增强, 说明PbS与ZnO之间形成了有利于光生电荷分离的异质结, 从而导致了PbS/ZnO复合膜光电性能的增加.     

Fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells using Nb2O5 blocking layer made by sol-gel method

In this study, nanocrystalline Nb2O5 thin film has been prepared via sol-gel process using niobium ethoxide as a precursor. Sol-gel films using various ratios of H2O/Nb have been prepared on fluorinated tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate, and used as electron-blocking layer of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The Nb2O5 film as deposited was amorphous, but became crystalline with hexagonal phase after heat treatment at 600 degrees C. With higher H2O/Nb molar ratio, denser and more uniform Nb2O5 film surface was obtained. DSSCs with the structure of FTO/Nb2O5/TiO2/Dye/EL/Pt/FTO have been prepared, and their solar-cell performance was evaluated. By introduction of Nb2O5 sol-gel film between FTO and TiO2 layer in DSSCs, energy conversion efficiency could be improved.     

Electrodeposition of hierarchical ZnO nanorod-nanosheet structures and their applications in dye-sensitized solar cells

We present a two-step electrochemical deposition process to synthesize hierarchical zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod-nanosheet structures on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate, which involves electrodeposition of ZnO nanosheet arrays on the conductive glass substrate, followed by electrochemical growth of secondary ZnO nanorods on the backbone of the primary ZnO nanosheets. The formation mechanism of the hierarchical nanostructure is discussed. It is demonstrated that annealing treatment of the primary nanosheets synthesized by the first-step deposition process plays a key role in synthesizing the hierarchical nanostructure. Photovoltaic properties of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on hierarchical ZnO nanostructures are investigated. The hierarchical ZnO nanorod-nanosheet DSSC exhibits improved device performance compared to the DSSC constructed using photoelectrode of bare ZnO nanosheet arrays. The improvement can be attributed to the enhanced dye loading, which is caused by the enlargement of internal surface area within the nanostructure photoelectrode. Furthermore, we perform a parametric study to determine the optimum geometric dimensions of the hierarchical ZnO nanorod-nanosheet photoelectrode through adjusting the preparation conditions of the first- and second-step deposition process. By utilizing a hierarchical nanostructure photoelectrode with film thickness of about 7 μm, the DSSC with an open-circuit voltage of 0.74 V and an overall power conversion efficiency of 3.12% is successfully obtained.     

Electrospinning processed nanofibrous TiO(2) membranes for photovoltaic applications

We have recently fabricated dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) comprising nanofibrous TiO(2) membranes as electrode materials. A thin TiO(2) film was pre-deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated conducting glass substrate by immersion in TiF(4) aqueous solution to reduce the electron back-transfer from FTO to the electrolyte. The composite polyvinyl acetate (PVac)/titania nanofibrous membranes can be deposited on the pre-deposited thin TiO(2) film coated FTO by electrospinning of a mixture of PVac and titanium isopropoxide in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The nanofibrous TiO(2) membranes were obtained by calcining the electrospun composite nanofibres of PVac/titania as the precursor. Spectral sensitization of the nanofibrous TiO(2) membranes was carried out with a ruthenium (II) complex, cis-dithiocyanate-N,N(')-bis(2,2(')-bipyridyl-4,4(')-dicarboxylic acid) ruthenium (II) dihydrate. The results indicated that the photocurrent and conversion efficiency of electrodes can be increased with the addition of the pre-deposited TiO(2) film and the adhesion treatment using DMF. Additionally, the dye loading, photocurrent, and efficiency of the electrodes were gradually increased by increasing the average thickness of the nanofibrous TiO(2) membranes. The efficiency of the fibrous TiO(2) photoelectrode with the average membrane thickness of 3.9?μm has a maximum value of 4.14%.     

Growth of aligned hexagonal ZnO nanorods on FTO substrate for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) application

This article reports a facile growth of well-crystalline aligned hexagonal ZnO nanorods on fluorine-doped tin-oxide (FTO) substrate via non-catalytic thermal evaporation process. The morphological investigations done by field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveal that the grown products are aligned hexagonal ZnO nanorods which are grown in a very high density over the whole substrate surface. The detailed structural properties observed by high-resolution TEM equipped with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirmed that the synthesized nanorods are well-crystalline possessing wurtzite hexagonal phase and preferentially grown along the c-axis direction. A sharp and strong UV emission at 381 nm in room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum showed that the as-grown ZnO nanorods possess excellent optical properties. The as-grown nanorods were used as photo-anode for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) which exhibits an overall light-to-electricity conversion efficiency (ECE) of 0.7% with V(oc) of 0.571 V, J(sc) of 2.02 mA/cm2 and FF of 0.58.     

Copper oxide thin film and nanowire as a barrier in ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells

The ZnO dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with different photoelectrodes were studied on the effect of CuO layer as a barrier layer toward power conversion characteristics. The structures of DSSCs based on ZnO as a photoelectrode, Eosin-Y as a dye sensitizer, iodine/iodide solution as an electrolyte and Pt/FTO as a counterelectrode. CuO powder, nanowire prepared by oxidation reaction of copper powder and CuO thin film prepared by evaporation copper thin film, were used as a layer on the top of ZnO layer to form blocking layer. The photocurrent, photovoltage and power conversion efficiency characteristics for DSSCs were measured under illumination of simulated sunlight obtained from a solar simulator with the radiant power of 100 mW/cm². It was found that ZnO DSSCs with CuO thin film exhibited highest current density of 5.10 mA/cm² and highest power conversion efficiency of 0.92% than those of CuO powder and nanowire. The enhancement of the power conversion efficiency can be explained in terms of the retardation of the interfacial recombination dynamics of CuO blocking layer.     

Modified multistep electrophoretic deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles to prepare high quality thin films for dye-sensitized solar cell

In this study, a modified procedure is introduced which consists of multistep process for improving the structure of mesoporous TiO₂ films. The films were prepared by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) on FTO (F-SnO₂ coated glass). It is shown that high quality TiO₂ film can be produced by multistep EPD method. The effect of EPD time on the thickness and density of the films have been investigated. The performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) that were fabricated by improved layer are tested under AM 1.5 simulated sunlight. Finally, the structure and effective parameters of DSSCs that were fabricated by one step and multistep EPD are investigated precisely, using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.     

Enhancing the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells by ZnO nanorods/ZnO nanoparticles composite photoanode

In this paper, ZnO nanorods (NRs) were prepared by a two-step solution phase reaction. A composite photoanode architecture is fabricated by adding 0–0.20 at.% ZnO NRs into ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). The scanning electron microscopy image shows that the average diameter and length of the ZnO NRs are about 50 nm and 2–5 µm, respectively, and the ZnO NRs are uniformly embedded into the ZnO NPs photoanode. The UV–vis spectrum analysis reveals that the amount of dye adsorption of the composite photoanode decreases with increasing ZnO NRs content. Meanwhile, the influence of ZnO NRs contents on the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) performance is systematically investigated. The photocurrent density–voltage (J–V) characteristics reveal that the device performance of DSSCs can be significantly enhanced by the composite photoanode. Typically, the DSSC with 0.15 at.% ZnO NRs obtains the optimal energy conversion efficiency of 3.8%, which is 28.4% higher than that of the pristine ZnO DSSCs. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis shows that ZnO NRs can provide a direct pathway for accelerating electron transport, extending the electron lifetime, suppressing electron recombination and improving electron collection efficiency. These results indicate that the incorporation of ZnO NRs in the photoanode is an effective way to improve the performance of DSSCs.     

具有光透性的超长TiO_2纳米管阵列/FTO的制备及表征

采用电子束蒸发方法在透明导电玻璃FTO上沉积Ti金属薄膜,室温条件下在C2H6O2+NH4F中通过恒压阳极氧化法制备出超长TiO2纳米管阵列/FTO电极,并通过场发射扫描电子显微镜(FESEM),透射电子显微镜(TEM),X光电子能谱(XPS),X射线衍射(XRD)及光谱分析等方法对纳米管阵列/FTO电极进行了表征.研究表明,制备出的TiO2纳米管阵列内径43nm,管长5.4μm,经退火处理后得到长度为5μm锐钛矿相TiO2纳米管阵列/FTO透明电极,在可见光波长段的透射率为45%,在400nm波长处有一明显吸收峰.     

Wire-shaped quantum dots-sensitized solar cells based on nanosheets and nanowires

Wire-shaped quantum dots-sensitized solar cells (WS-QDSCs) based on nanosheets and nanowires were fabricated and investigated for this paper. The nanosheets grown on stainless steel (SS) wire by electrodeposition were mainly composed of Zn?(OH)?Cl?·H?O and most of the Zn?(OH)?Cl?·H?O was converted to ZnO by post-treatment, and ZnO nanowires were directly grown on SS wire by the hydrothermal method. CdS QDs were deposited on nanosheets and nanowires by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method. The results of photoelectrochemical performance indicated that WS-QDSCs showed a similar conversion efficiency in polysulfide and Na?SO? electrolytes, while the WS-QDSCs based on the Cu2S counter electrode achieved much higher performance than those based on SS and Cu counter electrodes. By optimizing electrodeposition duration, the WS-QDSCs based on nanosheets presented the highest conversion efficiency of 0.60% for the duration of 20 min. Performance comparison indicated that the WS-QDSC based on nanosheets showed very superior performance to that based on the nanowires with similar film thickness.     

Growth and optical properties of aluminum-doped zinc oxide nanostructures on flexible substrates in flexible electronics

Undoped ZnO nanowire arrays and Al-doped ZnO nanostructures with nanowires and nanosheets were successfully synthesized on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate using the rapid hydrothermal synthesis. These undoped ZnO nanowire arrays showed close alignment with highly c-axis oriented and well-defined hexagonal facets (001). The coexistence of the nanowires and nanosheets was observed during the introduction of Al ions. The number of nanosheets increased due to the Al doping concentration and the lack of surface energy. The diameter of the nanosheets and the length of nanowire arrays also increased as a function of the growth time. Room-temperature photoluminescence spectra show that the ZnO:Al nanostructures on the ZnO seeded polyethylene terephthalate substrate yield low level of the defect density compared to the ZnO seeded glass substrate to remove post annealing process.     

性能增强的双层TiO2复合膜染料敏化太阳能电池

采用水热法制备了一维TiO₂纳米棒阵列、二维TiO₂纳米片和三维TiO₂微球。将TiO₂纳米棒阵列/纳米片-微球双层薄膜应用于染料敏化太阳能电池(DSSC), 研究了TiO₂纳米片与微球的质量比对电池光电性能的影响。采用场发射扫描电镜、氮气吸附脱附等温线、X射线衍射、紫外-可见漫反射光谱、荧光光谱和电化学阻抗谱对样品进行了表征。研究表明, 纳米片与微球的质量比显著影响膜电极的光学和电学特性, 以及电池的光电性能。含50wt% TiO₂纳米片膜电极具有最高的染料吸附量、最强的光吸收、最小的传输电阻和最低的荧光强度。含25wt%、50wt%、75wt%和100wt%纳米片的DSSC的效率分别为1.46%、1.71%、1.26%和1.13%。含50wt% 纳米片的电池具有最优的性能, 这是因为该组分电极具有较好的光吸收特性、较小的载流子复合速率以及较快的电子传输。     

Preparing thick, defect-free films of anatase titania for dye-sensitized solar cells

Anatase titania (TiO₂) nanoparticle films were prepared on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) substrates. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, profilometry, Raman spectroscopy, and optical microscopy. The results show that defects are initiated during the sintering step and continue to propagate once the film is cooled. The sintering and annealing steps were controlled by reducing the pressure and the rate of temperature change. These steps reduced the stresses generated during film preparation, allowing thick titania films on both FTO and ITO substrates to be prepared with minimal defects. Using the optimized conditions for film preparation, 20 μm thick films of titania on FTO and ITO substrates were obtained with calculated defect densities of 2.5 and 7.8%. Films as thick as 25 μm were prepared on FTO substrates with a defect density of only 6.0%. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using the titania films prepared by both standard and vacuum sintering methods. DSSCs made with 20 μm titania films sintered at intermediate pressures show improvements to short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and device efficiency.     

Highly enhanced acetone sensing performances of porous and single crystalline ZnO nanosheets: high percentage of exposed (100) facets working together with surface modification with Pd nanoparticles

Porous and single crystalline ZnO nanosheets, which were synthesized by annealing hydrozincite Zn(5)(CO(3))(2)(OH)(6) nanoplates produced with a water/ethylene glycol solvothermal method, are used as building blocks to construct functional Pd-ZnO nanoarchitectures together with Pd nanoparticles based on a self-assembly approach. Chemical sensing performances of the ZnO nanosheets were investigated carefully before and after their surface modification with Pd nanoparticles. It was found that the chemical sensors made with porous ZnO nanosheets exhibit high selectivity and quick response for detecting acetone, because of the 2D ZnO nanocrystals exposed in (100) facets at high percentage. The performances of the acetone sensors can be further improved dramatically, after the surfaces of ZnO nanosheets are modified with Pd nanoparticles. Novel acetone sensors with enhanced response, selectivity and stability have been fabricated successfully by using nanoarchitectures consisting of ZnO nanosheets and Pd nanoparticles.     

Effect of ZnO film deposition methods on the photovoltaic properties of ZnO–Cu2O heterojunction devices

The effect of ZnO film depositions using various film deposition methods such as magnetron sputtering (MSP), pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and vacuum arc plasma evaporation (VAPE) on the photovoltaic properties of ZnO–Cu₂O heterojunction solar cells is described in this report. In addition, the relationship between the resulting photovoltaic properties and the film deposition conditions such as supply power and substrate arrangement was investigated in Al-doped ZnO (AZO)–Cu₂O heterojunction devices fabricated using AZO thin films prepared by d.c. magnetron sputtering (d.c.MSP) or r.f. magnetron sputtering (r.f.MSP). The results showed that the measured photovoltaic properties of devices fabricated with films deposited on substrates oriented perpendicular to the target were better than those of devices fabricated with films deposited on substrates oriented parallel to the target. It was also found that ZnO film depositions under conditions where a relatively weaker oxidizing atmosphere was used yield better properties than films derived from MSP, which utilizes a high-density and high-energy plasma. Using VAPE and PLD, for example, high efficiencies of 1.52 and 1.42%, respectively, were obtained under AM2 solar illumination in devices fabricated at a substrate temperature around 200 °C.