Enhanced photovoltaic performance of nanowire dye-sensitized solar cells based on coaxial TiO2@TiO heterostructures with a cobalt(II/III) redox electrolyte

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2013 Oct 23;5(20):9872-7. doi: 10.1021/am402344d. Epub 2013 Sep 12.

Abstract

The growth of a TiO shell at the surface of TiO2 nanowires (NWs) allowed us to improve the power conversion efficiency of NW-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) by a factor 2.5. TiO2@TiO core-shell NWs were obtained by a two-step process: First, rutile-phase TiO2 NWs were hydrothermally grown. Second, a hongquiite-phase TiO shell was electrochemically deposited at the surface of the TiO2 NWs. Bare TiO2 and heterojunction TiO2@TiO NW-based DSCs were obtained using a cobalt(II/III) redox electrolyte and LEG4 as the dye. With this electrolyte/dye combination, DSCs with outstanding Voc values above 900 mV were systematically obtained. While TiO2@TiO NW-based DSCs had slightly lower Voc values than bare TiO2 NW-based DSCs, they provided 3-fold higher photocurrents, overall reaching 2.5-fold higher power conversion efficiencies. The higher photocurrents were associated with the larger surface roughness and an enhanced charge-carrier separation/transfer at the NW/dye interface.

Publication types

  • Letter
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cobalt / chemistry*
  • Coloring Agents / chemistry
  • Electric Power Supplies
  • Electrolytes / chemistry*
  • Ions / chemistry
  • Nanowires / chemistry*
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Solar Energy*
  • Surface Properties
  • Titanium / chemistry*

Substances

  • Coloring Agents
  • Electrolytes
  • Ions
  • titanium dioxide
  • Cobalt
  • Titanium