Band-Gap Engineering of Metal Oxides for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Mixed oxides Ti(1-x)Zr(x)O2 with 0 < x < or = 0.2 were synthesized by means of thermal hydrolysis for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. The lattice parameter d is observed to increase linearly with Zr content x. The band gap of the mixed oxides was measured to increase by up to 0.2 eV. The respective shift of the conduction band edge leads to an increase of the open circuit voltage (V(OC)) by up to 0.1 V. Among others, temperature-dependent measurements of V(OC) clearly identify the correlation between band edge shift and change in V(OC).

Effect of zirconium incorporation on the stabilization of TiO2 mesoporous structure

“…Increasing of lattice parameters and the cell volume of solid solutions Ti 1−x Zr x O 2 as a function of zirconium content (x), has been observed. [1,3] As was demonstrated in Ref. [3] , the maximal zirconium quantity that can substitute titanium ions in the lattice with formation of a solid solution is 7.5% (x = 0.075).…”

Metal oxides for thermoelectric power generation and beyond

“…Durrant et al have fabricated a DSC with ZrO 2 -doped TiO 2 -blocking layer, which resulted in a 35% efficiency improvement and reached V OC = 50 mV [120]. This significant efficiency improvement was attributed to the increased electron density of The ZrO 2 -doped TiO 2 thin films.…”

Enhancing Electron Injection in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells by Adopting W6+‐Doped TiO2 Nanowires: A Theoretical Study

“…[13] In addition, nitrogen as a dopant in TiO 2 was found to be harmful to the stability of batteries. Fortunately, doping with transition-metal ions (e.g., V 4+/5+ , [14] Fe 2+ , [15] Ce 4+ , [16] Zn 2+ , [17] Zr 4+ , [18] Nb 5+ , [19] Ta 5+ , [20] Cr 3+/4+ , [21] and W 6+ [7a] ) in TiO 2 has been found to shift the CB edge down and to change the electron-injection driving force of sensitizers. Doping with transition metals is also considered to be a feasible strategy to improve the value of J sc and the IPCE.…”