Passivation of ZnO Nanowire Guests and 3D Inverse Opal Host Photoanodes for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

A hierarchical host‐guest nanostructured photoanode is reported for dye‐sensitized solar cells. It is composed of ZnO nano­wires grown in situ into the macropores of a 3D ZnO inverse opal structure, which acts both as a seed layer and as a conductive backbone host. Using a combination of self‐assembly, hydrothermal or electrodeposition of single crystalline ZnO nanowires and TiO2 passivation, a novel photoanode with scattering capability for optimal light harvesting is fabricated.

Light absorption modulation of novel Fe2TiO5 inverse opals for photoelectrochemical water splitting

“…By far, various kinds of metal oxide inverse opals with superior photoactivities have been explored. [16][17][18] Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge, there are still no reports focused on Fe 2 TiO 5 photonic crystals. The development of Fe 2 TiO 5 inverse opals might open up more opportunities in the design of efficient and low-cost photoanodes for PEC applications.…”

Nanoengineering Energy Conversion and Storage Devices via Atomic Layer Deposition

“…The TiO 2 [121][122][123][124][125][126][127] and ZnO [128][129][130] were usually used as the active films, while the ultrathin TiO 2 [131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145][146] and Al 2 O 3 [147][148][149][150][151][152] were more studied as the interfacial films. The TiO 2 [121][122][123][124][125][126][127] and ZnO [128][129][130] were usually used as the active films, while the ultrathin TiO 2 [131][132][133][134][135][136]…”

“…Following this idea, the same group also grew ITO within an AAO template and subsequently coated with amorphous TiO 2 to form a core/shell structure by ALD. [130] The as-prepared ZnO photoanodes can yield an electronically interconnected and high-surface-area semiconductor framework. On the other hand, Hamann and co-workers used low-density, highsurface-area, mesoporous aerogels of silica as a template to synthesize pseudo-1D TiO 2 and ZnO photoanodes.…”

CdS/CdSe co-sensitized TiO2 nanowire-coated hollow Spheres exceeding 6% photovoltaic performance

“…To overcome the intrinsic drawback (low surface area) of macroporous and nanowire array structure, the composite photoelectrode composed of macroporous and nanowire will potentially exhibit larger surface area, fast electron transportation and superior light scattering ability which may contribute to the enhancement of photovoltaic performance [37]. Recently, several hierarchical macroporous-nanowire composites such as TiO 2 -TiO 2 , [37,38] TiO 2 -ZnO, [39] ZnO-ZnO, [40] Zn 2 SnO 4 ÀZnO [41] have been designed for high efficiency DSSCs or QDSSCs. However, up to date, there is no report on the macroporousTiO 2 nanowire composite for QDSSCs application.…”