Enhanced Efficiency of Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell by High Surface Area Anatase‐TiO₂‐Modified P25 Paste

Abstract

How to improve the conversion efficiency and the stability of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are two major problems. Furthermore, reduction of the manufacturing cost of DSSCs and large-scale manufacture are also very important factors. As a raw material, commercial P25 would be used for large-scale manufacture of TiO2paste with simple preparation procedure. However, there are several drawbacks for P25 such as the low surface area of P25 powder and the poor connectivity among particles in film using tradition P25 paste without modification. In this paper, we introduced a simple modified method by adding high surface area anatase TiO2into pure P25 paste. The photoelectric conversion performances of DSSCs based on these photo-electrodes were tested. The results show that the open-circuit voltage, the fill factor and the energy conversion efficiency of the modified electrode were increased. It is found that the modified P25 films have fast electron transportation and a slow charge recombination. We conclude that through adding the anatase TiO2nanoparticles to the P25 paste with high surface area, it can not only improve the particles connectivity among inside the films, but also enhance the efficiency of DSSCs.

Spacer Thickness‐Dependent Electron Transport Performance of Titanium Dioxide Thick Film for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

“…comparing with other groups using experimental technique like the open-circuit voltage decay (OCVD) [4,23], the calculated time constants are approximately in the same order. It is interesting to note that the cell containing spacer thickness of 30 m gives the highest lifetime ( ) value as seen in Table 4.…”

“…This provides not only large surface area for the adsorption of dyes for light harvesting, but also a network for electron transport to the FTO glass substrate and subsequently to the external circuit. Thus, the different parameters of the TiO 2 photoanode, such as particle size, thickness, and the surface area, play important roles in the performance of DSSC [4]. A lot of studies have been performed to enhance or arrive at optimum efficiency of DSSC depending on the semiconductor active layer [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], the type of dye [13,14], the composition and concentration of electrolyte [13,15,16], and the type and thickness of counter electrode [17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…During these processes, electrons in the conduction band of semiconductor may be recombined with the dye sensitizer or electron acceptor species in the electrolyte solution. The electron collection efficiency in DSSC is determined by the competition between transport of electrons within the porous semiconductor on one hand and recombination of electrons with I 3 − ions in the electrolyte on the other hand [4].…”

Au-Loaded Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Synthesized by Modified Sol-Gel/Impregnation Methods and Their Application to Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Moreover, TiO 2 loading with Au was produced by the impregnation method which is a very simple technique and does not require The specific surface area (SSA BET ) of the TiO 2 and Auloaded TiO 2 nanoparticles was found to be in the range of 69-109 m 2 g −1 with the particle diameter in the range of 14-21 nm, corresponding well with the XRD results. It was reported that high surface area of TiO 2 active layer has many advantages such as large amount of dye adsorption, high light-harvesting efficiency, rapid electron transport, and low electron recombination [38][39][40]. Therefore, high photoefficiency could be expected.…”

Plasmonic effect of silver nanoparticles intercalated into mesoporous betalain-sensitized-TiO2 film electrodes on photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

“…Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have remained one of the most promising choices for the realization of low-cost solar cells; it has, in the recent years, attracted remarkable attention owing to simplicity of its fabrication process and low manufacturing cost with excellent light absorbing materials [1][2][3]. Nevertheless, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device has barely gone up to 11.9 % [4].…”