Issue 41, 2015

Composite electrode of TiO2 particles with different crystal phases and morphology to significantly improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

A novel composite electrode containing brookite TiO2 quasi nanocubes and anatase TiO2 sea urchin-like microspheres is fabricated for improving the dye-sensitized solar cell's performance. The brookite nanocubes have a mean size of ∼50 nm, and the anatase microspheres with ∼3 μm diameter display hierarchical structures composed of secondary TiO2 nanoribbons and nanoparticles. An optimal efficiency of 7.09% is obtained from the solar cell fabricated with a composite TiO2 electrode containing 30 wt% nanocubes and 70 wt% microspheres, with 81% or 30% improvement in the efficiency as compared to the single nanocube or microsphere film-based cell. Those brookite nanocubes in the microsphere film can fill the interspaces of the hierarchical microspheres, which can not only enhance the dye-loading, but also reduce the charge recombination. All these lead to a higher voltage and current, leading to the improved performance of the anatase TiO2 film-based solar cell.

Graphical abstract: Composite electrode of TiO2 particles with different crystal phases and morphology to significantly improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Jan 2015
Accepted
30 Mar 2015
First published
30 Mar 2015

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 32536-32545

Author version available

Composite electrode of TiO2 particles with different crystal phases and morphology to significantly improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

J. Xu, J. Jin, Z. Ying, W. Shi and T. Peng, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 32536 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA01122A

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