Planar scattering from hierarchical anatase TiO2 nanoplates with variable shells to improve light harvesting in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Hierarchical anatase TiO(2) nanoplates with tunable shell structure were developed as the novel planar scattering layer in dye-sensitized solar cells, showing improved cell performance due to the enhanced light harvesting capability.

Architecture designed ZnO hollow microspheres with wide-range visible-light photoresponses

“…These multiple optical effects have been successfully employed to enhance the visible-light harvesting capability of solar energy harvesting devices. [29][30][31] It is interesting that the visible light absorption of the ZnO hollow microspheres has strong correlation with the size of the constituent nanostructured aggregates. In detail, the visible light absorption centre of the hollow microspheres shied from 400 nm to 450 nm and then to around 510 nm, with the variation of the constituent nano-units from nanowire network ($200 nm), to mesoporous nanoballs ($200 nm), and then to nanosheet stacks (250-300 nm in width).…”

Porous (001)-faceted anatase TiO2nanorice thin film for efficient dye-sensitized solar cell

“…As can be seen from Figure 5, the V oc of the device increases as the nanograin size decreases, reflecting the increasing of exciton lifetime or limited electron-hole recombination. Nevertheless, the device 'F' (device with the smallest nanograin size) shows a slight falls in V oc , which can be attributed to the increasing of electron-hole recombination's rate [17,36]. In spite of that fact, the device 'F' exhibits significant rise in J sc , the result of enhanced exciton formation and facile electron transportation in the device probably due to greater exposure of high energy surface area.…”

“…In a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), anatase is the TiO 2 polymorph that shows an intriguing performance [13][14][15][16][17]. Since many surface reaction favours to occur at the high-energy site, such as defect, twinning or kinks [18,19], to synthesize anatase TiO 2 nanostructures having such structural properties promises enhanced performance in applications.…”

Electrospun TiO2 microspheres as a scattering layer for CdS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

“…Recently, plenty of research has been carried out to improve the performance of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) by various methods [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. One effective method to increase power conversion efficiency is to increase the light harvesting capability of the photoanode by introducing a light scattering layer into the photoanode [20][21][22][23][24][25]. The efficient light scattering layer on TiO 2 layer has been suggested to localize the incident light within the electrode and enhance the light absorption by increasing the optical path length [20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

“…One effective method to increase power conversion efficiency is to increase the light harvesting capability of the photoanode by introducing a light scattering layer into the photoanode [20][21][22][23][24][25]. The efficient light scattering layer on TiO 2 layer has been suggested to localize the incident light within the electrode and enhance the light absorption by increasing the optical path length [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Moreover, the bifunctional nanocrystal TiO 2 structures such as mesoporous microspheres, nanoembossed hollow microspheres and hemispheres have been investigated and used as photoanodes because they can increase dye loading and localize incident light within the electrode as well [27].…”