Templated sol-gel deposition and titanium dioxide nanoframe dye-sensitized solar cells
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Dye-sensitized Solar Cells (DSCs) have become a popular research topic because of their low-cost, high-efficiency solar energy conversion. While nanoparticle cell is currently the most efficient and stable DSC, nanowire cells have shown some significant advantage that would make them superior to nanoparticle cells. One such advantage is the fast and direct electron transport, which was reported to be several hundred times faster than trap-limited diffusion in nanoparticle cells, which can lower device efficiency caused by electron-hole recombination. The efficiency of current nanowire cells is primarily limited by the insufficiency of their internal surface area due to the mechanical weakness of nanowire structures. One solution to strengthen the nanowire structure is to build a framework where individual nanowires are connected and prevented from clustering, so as to increase the internal surface area and the efficiency of the solar cell. Nanoframes containing 20nm diameter TiO2 nanowire arrays were synthesized with polymer templates via cathodic Sol-Gel deposition followed by 450oC sintering. Dye-sensitized Solar Cells based on this nanoframe were fabricated and the effects of the top cover in the nanoframe, which is the only difference between nanoframe cells and nanowire cells, were investigated. The results show that the top cover does not prevent the I- and I3- ions underneath from diffusing freely in the electrolyte and causes no deterioration of the cell performance. The nanoframe cell is a promising device in which nanowire arrays are strengthened and the effective internal surface area have the potentiality to be increased without sacrificing the advantages of nanowire cell compared to nanoparticle cell.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Chen, Ying |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Electrical Engineering |
| Primary advisor | Nishi, Yoshio, 1940- |
| Thesis advisor | Nishi, Yoshio, 1940- |
| Thesis advisor | McVittie, James P |
| Thesis advisor | Wong, Hon-Sum Philip, 1959- |
| Advisor | McVittie, James P |
| Advisor | Wong, Hon-Sum Philip, 1959- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Chen Ying. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Chen Ying
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