Electrolyte/Dye/TiO2 Interfacial Structures of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Revealed by In Situ Neutron Reflectometry with Contrast Matching

Deng, Ke; Cole, Jacqueline M.; Cooper, Joshaniel F. K.; Webster, John R. P.; Haynes, Richard; Al Bahri, Othman K.; Steinke, Nina-Juliane; Guan, Shaoliang; Stan, Liliana; Zhan, Xiaozhi; Zhu, Tao; Nye, Daniel W.; Stenning, Gavin B. G.

doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03508

Electrolyte/Dye/TiO₂ Interfacial Structures of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Revealed by In Situ Neutron Reflectometry with Contrast Matching

Journal Article · Mon Jan 25 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Langmuir

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03508· OSTI ID:1767039

Deng, Ke ^[1]; ^[2]; Cooper, Joshaniel F. K. ^[3]; Webster, John R. P. ^[3]; Haynes, Richard ^[3]; Al Bahri, Othman K. ^[1]; Steinke, Nina-Juliane ^[4]; ^[5]; Stan, Liliana ^[6]; Zhan, Xiaozhi ^[7]; Zhu, Tao ^[8]; Nye, Daniel W. ^[3]; Stenning, Gavin B. G. ^[3]

Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Cavendish Lab.; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL)
Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom). Cavendish Lab.; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL); Inst. Laue-Langevin (ILL), Grenoble (France)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL); Cardiff Univ. (United Kingdom)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Dongguan Neutron Science Center (China)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Songshan Lake Materials Lab., Guangdong (China)

The nature of an interfacial structure buried within a device assembly is often critical to its function. For example, the dye/TiO₂ interfacial structure that comprises the working electrode of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) governs its photovoltaic output. These structures have been determined outside of the DSC device, using ex situ characterization methods; yet, they really should be probed while held within a DSC since they are modulated by the device environment. Dye/TiO₂ structures will be particularly influenced by a layer of electrolyte ions that lies above the dye self-assembly. We show that electrolyte/dye/TiO₂ interfacial structures can be resolved using in situ neutron reflectometry with contrast matching. Here, we find that electrolyte constituents ingress into the self-assembled monolayer of dye molecules that anchor onto TiO₂. Some dye/TiO₂ anchoring configurations are modulated by the formation of electrolyte/dye intermolecular interactions. These electrolyte-influencing structural changes will affect dye-regeneration and electron-injection DSC operational processes. This underpins the importance of this in situ structural determination of electrolyte/dye/TiO₂ interfaces within representative DSC device environments.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Cardiff Univ. (United Kingdom); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1767039

Journal Information:: Langmuir, Journal Name: Langmuir Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 37; ISSN 0743-7463

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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