Electrospun Nanofibers Applied to Dye Solar Sensitive Cells: A Review

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been an increase in the research for the development and improvement of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), owing to their singular advantages such as greater efficiency in energy conversion and overall performance in adverse environmental conditions. Therefore, work is carried out to enhance the energy efficiency of the components of the DSSCs: photoanode, counter-electrode, electrolyte, and dye sensitizer layer. Electrospun nanofibers in particular, have showed to be a novel alternative as components in DSSCs, mainly for energy conversion and as collector materials due in part to their tridimensional structure, high contact surface area and conductivity. Moreover, the incorporation of metallic compounds into nanofibers is advantageously employed in the electrospinning technique, owing to their conductivity and optical properties. Therefore, the present work consists of a detailed recompilation of the use of electrospun nanofibers loaded with metallic compounds and their application in DSSCs. The functionality of the components of DSSCs, parameters and experimental conditions of electrospinning, such as the intrinsic aspects in the polymer solution, are discussed and applied to the photoanode, counter-electrode and electrolyte of the DSSC. Lastly, the use of the electrospinning technique in combination with the use of metallic compounds could provide a great approach for the developing of DSSCs, with superior efficiency, high stability and durability.

One-Dimensional (1D) Nanostructured Materials for Energy Applications

“…Electrospun nanofibers have also been applied to dye solar sensitive cells [ 88 ], specifically combining them with metallic compounds, giving rise to systems with high efficiency and stability. Chemical composition, shape, and other properties can be easily controlled by adjusting key parameters during synthesis, which has enabled the development of electrode materials for solar cells and more recently to manufacture bulk organic heterojunction solar cells and perovskite solar cells [ 89 ].…”

Antimicrobial Effect of Electrospun Nanofibers Loaded with Silver Nanoparticles: Influence of Ag Incorporation Method

“…These three-dimensional scaffolds are produced in a 10-1000 nm diameter's range [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Nanofiber's properties such as nanometric thickness, controllable porosity, and high surface contact area [7,8] allow the potential applications in tissue engineering [19,20], drug delivery systems [21][22][23][24], biosensor fabrication [25,26], energy storage [27], solar cells [28], water filtration [29,30], catalysis [31,32], and sensing [33,34], among other uses. Specifically, the loading of electrospun nanofibers with AgNPs has become attractive [35][36][37] for many applications such as food packaging [38], filters [39].…”

Impact of TiO2 Nanostructures on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Performance

“…The problem could be solved by the addition of the TiO 2 electrospun nanofibers/nanoparticles combination, which improves charge transport as well as light scattering with no loss in dye loading. This DSSC structure demonstrates higher efficiency than those made of pure TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) [ 38 ]. Nowadays, numerous works of DSSC based on TiO 2 1D/3D hybrid nanostructures consider the connection of the dye loading with surface roughness and control it by changing the particle size and length of 1D nanostructures.…”