Design of hybrid nanoheterostructure systems for enhanced quantum and solar conversion efficiencies in dye-sensitized solar cells

Journal Article · Tue Apr 07 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4916783· OSTI ID:22399409

Kılıç, Bayram ^[1]; Telli, Hakan; Başaran, Ali; Pirge, Gursev ^[2]; Tüzemen, Sebahattin ^[3]

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1. Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Yalova University, 77100 Yalova (Turkey)
2. Turkish Air Force Academy, Institute of Aeronautics and Space Technologies, Istanbul (Turkey)
3. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Ataturk University, Erzurum (Turkey)

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with an innovative design involving controlled-morphology vertically aligned (VA) ZnO nanowires within mesoporous TiO{sub 2} structures with ultrahigh surface area for implementation as photoanodes are herein reported. Although TiO{sub 2} nanostructures exhibit excellent power conversion efficiency, the electron transport rate is low owing to low electron mobility. To overcome this, ZnO nanowires with high electron mobility have been investigated as potential candidates for photoanodes. However, the power conversion efficiency of ZnO nanowires is still lower than that of TiO{sub 2} owing to their low internal surface area. Consequently, in this work, vertical growth of ZnO nanowires within mesoporous TiO{sub 2} structures is carried out to increase their solar power conversion efficiency. The photovoltaic performance of solar cells using ZnO nanowires, mesoporous TiO{sub 2}, and TiO{sub 2}/ZnO hybrid structures are compared. The VA TiO{sub 2}/ZnO hybrid structures are found to provide direct electron transfer compared with the tortuous pathway of zero-dimensional nanostructures, resulting in an increased conversion efficiency. It is demonstrated that the light scattering of the photoanode film is increased and electron recombination is decreased when an appropriate amount of mesoporous TiO{sub 2} is used as a substrate for ZnO nanowires. The DSSC fabricated with the TiO{sub 2}/ZnO hybrid photoanode prepared with 15.8 wt. % TiO{sub 2} showed the highest conversion efficiency of 7.30%, approximately 5%, 18%, and 40% higher than that of DSSCs fabricated with 3.99 wt. % TiO{sub 2}, pure TiO{sub 2}, and pure ZnO photoanodes, respectively.

• OSTI ID: 22399409
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 13; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
APPROXIMATIONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ELECTRON MOBILITY
ELECTRON TRANSFER
ELECTRONS
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
HETEROJUNCTIONS
LIGHT SCATTERING
MORPHOLOGY
NANOWIRES
PHOTOANODES
PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT
RECOMBINATION
SOLAR CELLS
SUBSTRATES
SURFACE AREA
THIN FILMS
TITANIUM OXIDES
ZINC OXIDES