Improved conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells based on electrospun Al-doped ZnO nanofiber electrodes prepared by seed layer treatment

Journal Article · Tue Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Journal of Solid State Chemistry

OSTI ID:21494206

Lim, Sangwoo ^[1]

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1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749 (Korea, Republic of)

The application of electrospun nanofibers in electronic devices is limited due to their poor adhesion to conductive substrates. To improve this, a seed layer (SD) is introduced on the FTO substrate before the deposition of the electrospun composite nanofibers. This facilitates the release of interfacial tensile stress during calcination and enhances the interfacial adhesion of the AZO nanofiber films with the FTO substrate. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) based on these AZO nanofiber photoelectrodes have been fabricated and investigated. An energy conversion efficiency ({eta}) of 0.54-0.55% has been obtained under irradiation of AM 1.5 simulated sunlight (100 mW/cm{sup 2}), indicating a massive improvement of {eta} in the AZO nanofiber film DSSCs after SD-treatment of the FTO substrate as compared to those with no treatment. The SD-treatment has been demonstrated to be a simple and facile method to solve the problem of poor adhesion between electrospun nanofibers and the conductive substrate. -- Graphical abstract: The poor adhesion between electrospun nanofibers and substrate is improved by a simple and facile seed layer (SD) treatment. The energy conversion efficiency of AZO nanofiber-based DSSCs has been greatly increased by SD-treatment of the FTO substrate. Display Omitted Research highlights: {yields} A simple and facile method (SD-treatment) has been demonstrated. {yields} The poor adhesion between electrospun nanofibers and substrate is improved by the SD-treatment. {yields} The {eta} of AZO nanofiber-based DSSCs has been greatly improved by SD-treatment of the FTO substrate.

• OSTI ID: 21494206
• Journal Information: Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Vol. 184, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.jssc.2010.11.024; PII: S0022-4596(10)00535-9; Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0022-4596
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ADHESION
ALUMINIUM
CALCINATION
DEPOSITION
DOPED MATERIALS
ELECTRODES
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ENERGY CONVERSION
IRRADIATION
LAYERS
NANOSTRUCTURES
SIMULATION
SOLAR CELLS
STRESSES
THIN FILMS
ZINC OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CONVERSION
DECOMPOSITION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FILMS
MATERIALS
METALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PYROLYSIS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
ZINC COMPOUNDS