Biotemplated Synthesis of TiO2-Coated Gold Nanowire for Perovskite Solar Cells

Ippei Inoue; Yuki Umemura; Itaru Raifuku; Kenichi Toyoda; Yasuaki Ishikawa; Seigo Ito; Hisashi Yasueda; Yukiharu Uraoka; Ichiro Yamashita

doi:10.1021/acsomega.7b00940

Biotemplated Synthesis of TiO₂-Coated Gold Nanowire for Perovskite Solar Cells

ACS Omega. 2017 Sep 6;2(9):5478-5485. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.7b00940. eCollection 2017 Sep 30.

Authors

Ippei Inoue¹, Yuki Umemura², Itaru Raifuku², Kenichi Toyoda², Yasuaki Ishikawa², Seigo Ito³, Hisashi Yasueda¹, Yukiharu Uraoka², Ichiro Yamashita²

Affiliations

¹ Frontier Research Laboratories, Institute for Innovation, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., 1-1, Suzuki-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-8681, Japan.
² Graduate School of Materials Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5 Takayama, Ikoma, Nara 630-0192, Japan.
³ Department of Materials and Synchrotron Radiation Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Hyogo, 2167 Shosha, Himeji, Hyogo 671-2280, Japan.

Abstract

Fibrous nanomaterials have been widely employed toward the improvement of photovoltaic devices. Their light-trapping capabilities, owing to their unique structure, provide a direct pathway for carrier transport. This paper reports the improvement of perovskite solar cell (PSC) performance by a well-dispersed TiO₂-coated gold nanowire (GNW) in a TiO₂ cell layer. We used an artificially designed cage-shaped protein to synthesize a TiO₂-coated GNW in aqueous solution under atmospheric pressure. The artificially cage-shaped protein with gold-binding peptides and titanium-compound-biomineralizing peptides can bind GNWs and selectively deposit a thin TiO₂ layer on the gold surface. The TiO₂-coated GNW incorporated in the photoelectrodes of PSCs increased the external quantum efficiency within the range of 350-750 nm and decreased the internal resistance by 12%. The efficient collection of photogenerated electrons by the nanowires boosted the power conversion efficiency by 33% compared to a typical mesoporous-TiO₂-nanoparticle-only electrode.