Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance of Nanostructured Hybrid Solar Cell Using Highly Oriented TiO₂ Nanotubes

Abstract

Highly oriented TiO 2 nanotubes have been fabricated using ZnO nanorod template through liquid reactive deposition on the ITO substrates. The diameter and length of TiO 2 nanotubes can be effectively controlled for the suitable use for a hybrid solar cell by varying the diameter and length of the ZnO nanorod template. A mixture of P3HT/PCBM was infiltrated into the gaps between TiO 2 nanotubes to form hybrid solar cells. The open circuit voltage, short circuit current density, fill factor, and power conversion efficiency of the hybrid solar cell using highly oriented TiO 2 nanotubes were 646 mV, 9.95 mA cm -2 , 51.6%, and 3.32%, respectively, much higher than 1.2% of hybrid solar cell based on ZnO nanorods tested under otherwise identical conditions and significantly higher than 0.7% of the same type hybrid solar cells reported in literature. The enhancement of the power conversion efficiency could be resulted from the highly oriented TiO 2 nanotubes with smaller diameter and large specific surface area for the efficient electron transfer in hybrid solar cells.

High reduction of interfacial charge recombination in colloidal quantum dot solar cells by metal oxide surface passivation

“…1. TiO 2 layers were obtained through the etching of ZnO and the chemical reaction between ZnO and TiO 2 precursor according to the following equation: 36 ZnO + 2TiF 6 2-+ 2H 3 BO 3 →Zn 2+ + 2TiO 2 + 4F -+ 2BF 4 -+ 3H 2 O As shown in above equation, one portion of ZnO can be dissolved in TiF 6 2-/H 3 BO 3 solutions to form two portions of TiO 2 in situ. 1) for each preparation step and the TiO 2 precursor concentration were optimized to achieve uniform NW arrays with minimum surface defects.…”

One-Dimensional TiO2 Nanostructured Photoanodes: From Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells to Perovskite Solar Cells

“…Similar to the AAM template-assisted method, ZnO NR arrays can be employed as the template for 1D TiO 2 NT arrays. Yodyingyong and co-workers [35] reported the formation of well-oriented nanoporous TiO 2 NT arrays on transparent conductive oxide (TCO) substrates using ZnO NR arrays as the template. As seen in Figure 8, the ZnO NR template is prepared by the hydrothermal method, and then TiO 2 NTs are formed onto the surfaces of ZnO NR template by immersing the template substrate in Ti-precursor solution at room temperature for 1.5 h, and further the ZnO templates are dissolved by TiO 2 deposited ZnO template substrate in acidic solution for 1 h. More importantly, this ZnO NR template-assisted method offers in-situ assembly of well-oriented 1D TiO 2 NT arrays with porous tube walls onto the TCO substrates.…”

“…Additionally, the formation of porous walls of 1D TiO 2 NT arrays by etching processes using TiCl 4 contributes to a high surface area of 119 m 2 ·g −1 , expected to increase the amount of dye adsorption in DSCs. Reprinted with permission from [35]. Copyright 2010 American Chemical Society.…”

“…Afterwards, the TNT length is independent of anodizing time, as a result of a given electrolyte concentration and applied potential [37,38]. Reprinted with permission from [35]. Copyright 2010 American Chemical Society.…”

Slanted Titanium Dioxide Nano-Rod Based Hybrid Solar Cells

“…Nano-structured TiO 2 have been utilized to fabricate the devices and their power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) range from 1.3 to 4% depending on their structure and film thickness. [4][5][6][7] In this report, a new type of hybrid solar cell will be introduced. TiO 2 nano-rods are fabricated by glancing angle deposition (GLAD) 8 method and used to fabricate hybrid solar cell as an electron acceptor and electron transport path to the electrode.…”