Blocking layers for nanocomposite photoanodes in dye sensitized solar cells: Comparison of atomic layer deposition and TiCl4 treatment

Abstract

Charge recombination at the electrode/electrolyte interface can be prevented by efficient blocking layers. Here, TiO2 blocking layers have been deposited using atomic layer deposition (ALD) and TiCl4 treatment. The number of TiO2 ALD cycles was optimized for I-/I3and Fc/Fc + electrolytes. The optimized TiO2 ALD films' performance was compared with the TiCl4 treated films. TiCl4 treated films performed better than the ALD deposited films, attributed to reduction of the defects, which act as active sites of recombination.

Promoting Effect of TiCl4 Pre-Coating Time on TiO2 Semiconductors on Double Layer Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

“…TiCl4 is a promising material for pre-coating [21]. In general, semiconductor TCO glass can be immersed to pre-coat TiCl4 on DSSC semiconductors [22,23]. The internal resistance in the DSSC can be decreased thanks to the structure of TiCl4, which is known to increase the mechanical strength between the semiconductor and the substrate [24].…”

Strong room temperature exciton absorption of TiO2 nanorods prepared by Ti and Cu ion implantation

“…However, as far as we know, there are no reports paying close attention to the change of exciton absorption in low dimension TiO 2 materials, as the changes are not evident in most cases. Besides, TiO 2 is also widely used in dye-sensitized solar cells for the electron transport layer and blocking layer to prevent recombination [17]. If the retention capacity of the excitons in TiO 2 can be enhanced, TiO 2 can be used as electron generation and conduction materials simultaneously, which may enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the solar cell effectively.…”

Enhanced photoelectrochemical performance of TiO2 nanorod array films based on TiO2 compact layers synthesized by a two-step method

“…The FTO substrate with TCL was named as FTO TCL . In previous studies, TCLs were mostly synthesized by liquid phase deposition, 27,41 spincoating, 39,42 atomic layer deposition 43,44 and sol-gel process. 45,46 However, the liquid phase deposition and atomic layer deposition have high technical operation requirements; moreover, these processes are complex and their cost is high.…”