Issue 33, 2013

Fabrication of a double layered photoanode consisting of SnO2 nanofibers and nanoparticles for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Hierarchical one-dimensional SnO2 nanofibers (NFs) consisting of nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized and employed as an efficient light scattering layer to fabricate double layered dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The photovoltaic performance (5.44%) of the DSSC based on the SnO2 NPs (14.5 μm)/NFs (4.0 μm) double layered photoanode showed a 26.3% enhancement compared to that of a SnO2 NPs photoanode (18.5μm, 4.30%). Intensity modulation photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS), intensity-modulated voltage spectroscopy (IMVS) and open-circuit voltage decay (OCVD) spectroscopy were used to investigate the kinetic process of electron transport and recombination within SnO2 NPs or NPs/NFs based DSSCs, revealing a faster electron transport rate and a lower recombination rate in the SnO2 NPs/NFs photoanode. The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy results showed that the SnO2 NPs/NFs possess better light scattering ability which enhanced their photovoltaic performance compared to the SnO2 NPs. Furthermore, an overall power conversion efficiency of 6.31% (with a Jsc of 16.78 mA cm−2, Voc of 711 mV and FF of 0.53) was achieved for the SnO2 NPs/NFs double layered photoanode with an additional SnO2 blocking layer, which suppressed electron recombination between the FTO glass and the electrolyte.

Graphical abstract: Fabrication of a double layered photoanode consisting of SnO2 nanofibers and nanoparticles for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Apr 2013
Accepted
20 May 2013
First published
21 May 2013

RSC Adv., 2013,3, 13804-13810

Fabrication of a double layered photoanode consisting of SnO2 nanofibers and nanoparticles for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Y. Wang, K. Li, W. Wu, Y. Xu, H. Chen, C. Su and D. Kuang, RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 13804 DOI: 10.1039/C3RA41839A

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