Electron transport in dye sensitized solar cells with TiO2/ZnO core-shell photoelectrode
- Resource Type
- Conference
- Authors
- Shanmugam, Mariyappan; Bills, Braden; Baroughi, Mahdi Farrokh; Galipeau, David
- Source
- 2010 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2010 35th IEEE. :003256-003259 Jun, 2010
- Subject
- Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Photonics and Electrooptics
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
- Language
- ISSN
- 0160-8371
This paper presents the electron transport in dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with TiO 2 /ZnO core-shell photoelectrode. Sol-gel processed ZnO was used to form the shell layer on TiO 2 nanoparticles. DSSC with TiO 2 /ZnO core-shell photoelectrode resulted in 32 % enhancement in the overall photoconversion efficiency compared to DSSC with conventional TiO 2 photoelectrode. Dark, illuminated current-voltage characteristics (I–V) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the DSSC with TiO 2 /ZnO core-shell photoelectrode suggest that formation of ZnO shell on TiO 2 nanoparticles can effectively prevent the electron back reaction from the conduction band of the mesoporous TiO 2 to the surface states and eventually suppressed the recombination of the photoexcited electrons with either a hole available in electrolyte or oxidized dye molecules. The enhancement in short circuit density (J SC ) and open circuit voltage (V OC ) confirmed the suppressed density and activity of surface states at TiO 2 /ZnO/dye/electrolyte interfaces compared to TiO 2 /dye/electrolyte interfaces.