Nickel oxide as one of few p-type semiconductors exhibits great potential application in construction of photovoltaics and solar fuel production devices. The present work focuses on understanding the surface structure of NiO with controlled surface Ni 3+ species (e.g. NiO(OH) structure) that accompany the electrochemical processes in NiO/liquid electrolyte interfaces. By the aid of Mott-Schottky method, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and photocurrent-voltage correlation testing, 2 the variety of NiO surface structure are correlated to the observed changes in band energies, energetic distribution of the trap states density, charge interface transfer, charge transport, and as result p-type DSSCs device performance. The primary results demonstrate NiO(OH) species act as recombination center and cause worse interface recombination. Furthermore, we also offer an effective way of reducing surface NiO(OH) structure by Ni(CH 3 COOH) 2 post-treatment method, resulting in 31.3% increased photovoltaic performance. Our work provides good guidance for design and fabrication of solar energy-related devices employing NiO electrode.
The present work reports a simple Ni(CH 3 COO) 2 post-treatment method, meanwhile represents a series of characterizations of bare and post-treated NiO photocathodes. The investigation enlightens the mechanisms responsible for NiO surface changes and its effects on the charge density, band-edge shifts, hole injection efficiency, interface recombination, transport, collection efficiency, and as the result influence on the photovoltaic devices' performance. The primary results demonstrate that Ni(CH 3 COO) 2 post-treatment can offer an effective way of decreasing surface NiO(OH) structure, resulting in diminishing the hole recombination, increasing the charge collection efficiency, and leading to 31.3 % increased photovoltaic performance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.