TiO₂ Nanocrystals Synthesized by Laser Pyrolysis for the Up‐Scaling of Efficient Solid‐State Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

A crucial issue regarding emerging nanotechnologies remains the up‐scaling of new functional nanostructured materials towards their implementation in high performance applications on a large scale. In this context, we demonstrate high efficiency solid‐state dye‐sensitized solar cells prepared from new porous TiO2 photoanodes based on laser pyrolysis nanocrystals. This strategy exploits a reduced number of processing steps as well as non‐toxic chemical compounds to demonstrate highly porous TiO2 films. The possibility to easily tune the TiO2 nanocrystal physical properties allows us to demonstrate all solid‐state dye‐sensitized devices based on a commercial benchmark materials (organic indoline dye and molecular hole transporter) presenting state‐of‐the‐art performance comparable with reference devices based on a commercial TiO2 paste. In particular, a drastic improvement in pore infiltration, which is found to balance a relatively lower surface area compared to the reference electrode, is evidenced using laser‐synthesized nanocrystals resulting in an improved short‐circuit current density under full sunlight. Transient photovoltage decay measurements suggest that charge recombination kinetics still limit device performance. However, the proposed strategy emphasizes the potentialities of the laser pyrolysis technique for up‐scaling nanoporous TiO2 electrodes for various applications, especially for solar energy conversion.

Solid‐state dye‐sensitized and bulk heterojunction solar cells using TiO2 and ZnO nanostructures: recent progress and new concepts at the borderline

“…For both conventional DSSCs based on liquid electrolytes and solid‐state DSSCs, TiO 2 porous photoanodes are basically processed starting from nanocrystals synthesized by hydrothermal methods,87 where particle growth occurs in an autoclave under 70 atm (7.1 MPa), at 200–250 °C for 12 h. Alternative synthesis methods have been reported,88, 89 such as flame or aqueous synthesis,90, 91 in order to reduce the number of steps involved or to achieve crystal growth at lower temperatures. Laser pyrolysis has also been recently used,92 enabling the production in large quantities of TiO 2 nanocrystals presenting well‐controlled properties suitable for DSSC applications. Such considerations are crucial for industrial scale‐up at low cost.…”

Effect of Nitrogen Doping on the Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Composed of Mesoporous TiO<SUB>2</SUB> Photoelectrodes

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Nitrogen-doping (N-doping) into TiO 2 has aided the scattering of visible light and improved charge transport in photoelectrodes. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] We also improved photovoltaic performances of DSSCs by introducing large surface area mesoporous TiO 2 photoelectrodes and reported the effect of pore size on DSSCs performances. 15 16 Two different methods were adopted to prepare mesoporous TiO 2 : the first one used a soft triblock copolymer template under TiCl 4 hydrolysis and thermal treatment to eliminate the organic template, and the * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.…”

Multifunctional derivatives of dimethoxy-substituted triphenylamine containing different acceptor moieties

“…Hole transporting materials (HTMs) were successfully applied in solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (ssDSSCs) which allow to avoid potential leakage problems associated with the volatile nature of the liquid electrolyte [12,13]. During the last few years, spiro-OMeTAD has shown ascending performance when related with organic dyes such as Y123 (7.2%) [14] and D102 (4.2%) [15]. However, the synthesis of these dyes requires a multistep procedures which are costly and time consuming [16].…”