Porous Titania Nanosheet/Nanoparticle Hybrids as Photoanodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Porous titania nanohybrids (NHs) were successfully prepared by hybridizing the exfoliated titania nanosheets with anatase TiO2 nanoparticles. Various characterizations revealed that the titania NHs as photoanodes play a trifunctional role (light harvesting, dye adsorption, and electron transfer) in improving the efficiency (η) of the dye-sensitized solar cells. The optimized photoanode consisting layered NHs demonstrated a high overall conversion efficiency of 10.1%, remarkably enhanced by 29.5% compared to that (7.8%) obtained from the benchmark P25 nanoparticles under the same testing conditions. ABSTRACT: Porous titania nanohybrids (NHs) were successfully prepared by hybridizing the exfoliated titanate nanosheets with the anatase TiO2 nanoparticles. Various characterizations revealed that the titania NHs as photoanodes play a tri-functional role (light harvesting, dye-adsorption and electron transfer) in improving the efficiency (η) of the DSSCs. The optimized photoanode consisting layered NHs demonstrated a high overall conversion efficiency of 10.1%, remarkably enhanced by 29.5% compared to that (7.8%) obtained from the benchmark P25 nanoparticles under the same testing conditions.

Controllable synthesis of concave cubic gold core–shell nanoparticles for plasmon-enhanced photon harvesting

“…Finally, all the electrodes were post-treated again with TiO 2 organic sol and annealed at 450 °C again. 28 After cooling to 80 °C, the TiO 2 films were immersed into a 0.5 mM solution of N719 dye (Dyesol) in a mixture of acetonitrile/tert-butanol (V/V=1/1) for 12-14 hours. [28][29] Cell Fabrication: The dye-loaded working electrodes and Pt counter electrodes (OPVT-Yingkou)…”

Boosting the efficiency of quantum dot sensitized solar cells up to 7.11% through simultaneous engineering of photocathode and photoanode

“…In order to efficiently transfer electrons and scatter light without compromising QD-loading, our previously developed porous titania nanohybrids (NHs) can be considered as one of the promising photoanode materials [59]. The NHs are prepared by pillaring exfoliated Ti 0.91 O 2 nanosheets (NSs) with colloidal TiO 2 nanoparticles (7~9 nm) without deterioration of their fundamental crystal structure [59][60][61]. In this way, the porosity and surface area of the NHs are significantly enlarged for light absorbers to anchor, and submicrometer-sized crystalline NSs play a key role in increasing the light scattering.…”

“…In this way, the porosity and surface area of the NHs are significantly enlarged for light absorbers to anchor, and submicrometer-sized crystalline NSs play a key role in increasing the light scattering. In addition, the recombination would be suppressed due to the charge transfer between the guest and host in the layered NH system [59,62,63]. film is composed of a transparent layer (18NR-T Dyesol paste) and a light-scattering layer (WER2-O Dyesol paste or titania nanohybrids paste [59]).…”

“…In addition, the recombination would be suppressed due to the charge transfer between the guest and host in the layered NH system [59,62,63]. film is composed of a transparent layer (18NR-T Dyesol paste) and a light-scattering layer (WER2-O Dyesol paste or titania nanohybrids paste [59]). The synthesis of titania nanohybrids can be found elsewhere [59].…”

Structure and photocatalytic performance of layered HNbWO6nanosheet aggregation

“…In "topdown," micromechanical exfoliation 4 and liquid exfoliation 6 are the two common ways; for the "bottom-up" synthesis, two traditional methods, including chemical vapor deposition 7 and Van der Waal epitaxial growth 8 are widely used. Novel physical and chemical properties, such as the quantum size effect 9 and surface effects, 10 have been gradually revealed for nanosheets. The active component on a nanosheet is completely exposed to its surface.…”