scholarly journals A short review on the advancement in the development of TiO2 and ZnO based photo-anodes for the application of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs)

Author(s):  
Deepak Kumar

Abstract Population growth significantly expanding the boundaries of residential areas and living standards for humankind results in a tremendous increase in energy consumption. Unlike fossil fuels, which are found only in a few sites and non-renewable sources, solar energy is renewable and freely available in every part of the world. A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is a suitable electrochemical device to harness solar energy to produce power and is advantageous for its simplicity and inexpensive cost. Variations in photo-electrodes micro/nanostructure shape, doping, size, and crystal phase can improve the DSSCs performance by enhancing dye loading, improved light scattering ability, and/or faster electron transit and longer electron lifetime. The high yielding techniques for producing diverse morphologies for nanoparticles with appropriate band gaps might thus be considered another feasible strategy for improving cell performance. The impact of influencing parameters on photovoltaic characteristics of photo-anode for DSSC application is investigated in this review article. The descriptions are presented by compiling a list of relevant literature reports.

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 140-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shubhangi S. Khadtare ◽  
Sandesh R. Jadkar ◽  
Sunita Salunke-Gawali ◽  
Habib M. Pathan

Innovations in materials technology in the fields of photovoltaics play an important role in the paradigm shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. The use of solar energy is one of the most important problems in energy utilization. Dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology has been recognized as a competitor to the well developed thin film solar cells. In the present investigation, we have fabricated a device using natural Lawsone (Heena) dye which was used to sensitize zinc oxide (ZnO) films. ZnO seed layer was deposited using chemical bath deposition and slurry was used to deposit ZnO films followed by sintering at 450°C for 30 minutes in air. Performance of nanostructure ZnO photoelectrode using lawsone dye as a function of residence time in the dye solution was studied. For 20 hour dye loading time, we were observed power conversion efficiency around 0.5% which is more as compared to 5 and 14 hours dye loading time.


RSC Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (67) ◽  
pp. 42013-42023 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting-Kuang Chang ◽  
Yun Chi

The sensitizer TF-tBu_C3F7 has shown the highest overall efficiencies of JSC = 18.47 mA cm−2, VOC = 767 mV, FF = 0.71 and PCE = 10.05% under simulated one sun irradiation, due to the fine balance between dye loading and reduced charge recombination.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (04n05) ◽  
pp. 599-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siddhartha Kumar ◽  
Whitney Webre ◽  
Jacob Schaffner ◽  
Sheikh M. S. Islam ◽  
Francis D’Souza ◽  
...  

The first example of A2B2 tetrabenzoporphyrin (KW-4) was synthesized, characterized and evaluated as a sensitizer for dye-sensitized solar cells. UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy revealed red-shifted and broadened absorption spectra of A2B2 tetrabenzoporphyrin as compared with its A2 dibenzo- and A2B2 dibenzoporphyrin analogues, which is a desired feature of dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells. DFT calculations also indicate favorable electron density distribution on the HOMO and LUMO of KW-4. However, the power conversion efficiency of the solar cell based on tetrabenzoporphyrin KW-4 displayed inferior performance than that of the solar cell based on A2 dibenzoporphyrin KW-2. The lower performance of the KW-4 cell was ascribed to two factors: the low lying LUMO energy level leading to less efficient electron injection and the “flat geometry” of the dye on TiO2surface facilitating charge recombination and decreasing dye loading. The investigation of anchoring group effect suggests that the acrylic acid group is a better anchoring group than pentadienyl carboxylic acid.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (16) ◽  
pp. 7448-7454 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Archana ◽  
Arunava Gupta ◽  
Mashitah M. Yusoff ◽  
Rajan Jose

Tungsten doping in TiO2 nanowires led to increased photocurrent density resulting from increased lifetime and dye-loading compared to niobium doping.


RSC Advances ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (56) ◽  
pp. 31943-31949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Ataul Mamun ◽  
Qiquan Qiao ◽  
Brian A. Logue

Functionalized carboxylate deposition involves deposition of molecules from the gas phase and is an alternative dye loading technique to dip-coating. It was used to create a monolayer of large molecular weight dyes on TiO2, providing multiple advantages to dip-coating.


RSC Advances ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (55) ◽  
pp. 29099-29106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bing-Xin Lei ◽  
Li-Li Zeng ◽  
Ping Zhang ◽  
Xiao-Feng Zheng ◽  
Yan-Shan Wu ◽  
...  

Hierarchically porous N–F codoped TiO2 hollow spheres were prepared via an in situ bubbling method for solar energy conversion application.


RSC Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (88) ◽  
pp. 85125-85134 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Akın ◽  
S. Açıkgöz ◽  
M. Gülen ◽  
C. Akyürek ◽  
S. Sönmezoğlu

In this study, nine different natural dyes having various anchoring groups were extracted from various plants and used as photo-sensitizers in DSSC applications. The photovoltaic parameters were investigated as a function of these anchoring groups.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuan Pan ◽  
Yong Zhao ◽  
Changhong Chen ◽  
Zhaoyang Fan

ABSTRACTThe titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle (NP) structure has higher surface area and dye loading value to increase photon absorption while the nanotube (NT) can suppress the random walk phenomena to enhance carrier collection. In this work, hydrothermal method was utilized to infiltrate the TiO2 nanotube array by TiO2 nanoparticles with the aim of combining the advantages of both nanostructures to improve dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) efficiency. Structure morphology, device performance, and electrochemical properties were investigated. SEM observation confirmed that around 10 nm TiO2 nanoparticles uniformly covered the NT wall. TiO2 NT samples at three different lengths: 8 μm, 13 μm and 20 μm, decorated with different amount of nanoparticles were studied to optimize the structure for light absorption and electron transport to achieve high solar conversion efficiency. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was also employed to investigate the cells’ parameters: electron lifetime (τ), diffusion length (Ln) et al, to gain insight on the device performance. The incident photon conversion efficiency (IPCE) was also reported.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document