Microwave‐assisted hydrothermal synthesis of Cu‐doped TiO₂ nanoparticles for efficient dye‐sensitized solar cell with improved open‐circuit voltage

Abstract

An important reason for the underlying power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is the low open-circuit voltage (V oc). Considerable efforts have been made to increase the V oc of DSSCs by suppressing charge carrier recombination dynamics, co-sensitization, and other strategies. Herein, we report an enhancement of the V oc by the incorporation of Cu into TiO 2 microstructure via microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis. The prepared nanoparticles and the photoanodes were tested for their efficacy with various structural, optical, and electrical characterization tools. It was found that the incorporation of Cu 2+ into TiO 2 lattice raises its conduction band (CB) edge and shifted the Fermi level upwards, which contribute towards enhanced V oc. A significant enhancement in V oc from 0.714 to 0.781 V was observed by the Cu incorporation. An optimized 1 wt% Cu modified TiO 2 DSSC has shown an efficiency of 6.94% with a high V oc of 0.762 V. K E Y W O R D S cu-doped TiO 2 , dye sensitized solar cells, high open-circuit voltage, low series resistance, microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis

TiO2 treatment using ultrasonication for bubble cavitation generation and efficiency assessment of a dye-sensitized solar cell

“…When compared to other two treatments, the ultrasonic horn-TiO 2 exhibited a higher dye adsorption caused by the particle surface activation, which was due to the cavitation bubbles with particle dispersion [45] . The high dye adsorption of the ultrasonic cleaner-TiO 2 and the ultrasonic horn-TiO 2 acted as a key factor for improving the energy conversion efficiency of the DSSC by increasing the current density [46] , [47] .…”

Efficiency and stability improvement of natural dye‐sensitized solar cells using the electrospun composite of TiO 2 nanofibres doped by the bio‐Ca nanoparticles

“…In the past two decades, several strategies have been developed to optimize TiO 2 film that can be partitioned into two paths; control the morphology and modification of the TiO 2 nanostructures composition. The most effective procedures to modify nanocrystalline TiO 2 particles consist of TiCl 4 post‐treatment, 13,14 surface coating, 15,16 and ions doping 17,18 . The ions doping can effectively modulate the electrical and optical properties through bandgap engineering 19,20 .…”

“…The most effective procedures to modify nanocrystalline TiO 2 particles consist of TiCl 4 post-treatment, 13,14 surface coating, 15,16 and ions doping. 17,18 The ions doping can effectively modulate the electrical and optical properties through bandgap engineering. 19,20 This approach can facilitate charge mobility and suppress the recombination of photo-induced hole-electron pairs, thereby improving the DSSCs efficiency.…”

Mapping the Progress in Natural Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells: Materials, Parameters and Durability

“…They provide an efficiency of around 2 %, sometimes a little higher, but not so much. Researchers are excited to reduce these limitations by modifying several parameters, such as pH modification, [31][32][33] extraction solvents, [34][35][36] cosensitization, [31,37,38] improvement in TiO 2 size, [39][40][41] adjustment of electrolyte structure, [42,43] surface modification, [36,39] reduction of pigment interactions, [44] improvement of TiO 2 soak time in dye solution, [45,46] etc.…”