Effect of Au nanoparticles added in nanocrystalline TiO₂ film on the photoelectrode of dye-sensitised solar cells
by T.H. Meen; C.J. Huang; S.M. Chao; N.Y. Lin; W.R. Chen; J.K. Tsai; T.C. Wu
International Journal of Nanotechnology (IJNT), Vol. 11, No. 12, 2014

Abstract: In this study, we used a citrate reduction method and electrophoretic deposition (EPD) to prepare hybrid nanocrystalline TiO₂/Au films and applied it to the photoelectrode of dye-sensitised solar cell. The films and solar cells were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), I-V characteristics and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analyses. In the FE-SEM analysis, TiO₂/Au hybrid layers have the porous structure that is advantageous in the dye-loading capacity. The results of EDX reveal that the TiO₂/Au hybrid layer contains 0.28 wt% gold nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction patterns show that the TiO₂/Au hybrid films contain TiO₂ anatase and rutile phase, and Au peaks. Under sunlight simulator (AM 1.5 100 mW/cm²) illumination, the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitised solar cell with TiO₂/Au hybrid layer is obviously higher than that of TiO₂ film. In the analysis of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the total impedance of hybrid TiO₂/Au photoelectrode is 98.9 Ω, which is lower than that of TiO₂ film photoelectrode. These results indicate that TiO₂/Au hybrid layer can increase the conductivity and reduce the recombination of charges in the photoelectrode, resulting in the increase in conversion efficiency for DSSCs.

Online publication date: Fri, 06-Feb-2015

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Nanotechnology (IJNT):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com