Glass-Encapsulated Light Harvesters: More Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells by Deposition of Self-Aligned, Conformal, and Self-Limited Silica Layers

A major loss mechanism in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) is recombination at the TiO2/electrolyte interface. Here we report a method to reduce greatly this loss mechanism. We deposit insulating and transparent silica (SiO2) onto the open areas of a nanoparticulate TiO2 surface while avoiding any...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the American Chemical Society Vol. 134; no. 23; pp. 9537 - 9540
Main Authors Son, Ho-Jin, Wang, Xinwei, Prasittichai, Chaiya, Jeong, Nak Cheon, Aaltonen, Titta, Gordon, Roy G, Hupp, Joseph T
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 13.06.2012
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:A major loss mechanism in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) is recombination at the TiO2/electrolyte interface. Here we report a method to reduce greatly this loss mechanism. We deposit insulating and transparent silica (SiO2) onto the open areas of a nanoparticulate TiO2 surface while avoiding any deposition of SiO2 over or under the organic dye molecules. The SiO2 coating covers the highly convoluted surface of the TiO2 conformally and with a uniform thickness throughout the thousands of layers of nanoparticles. DSCs incorporating these selective and self-aligned SiO2 layers achieved a 36% increase in relative efficiency versus control uncoated cells.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0002-7863
1520-5126
DOI:10.1021/ja300015n