Abstract
Developments of metal oxide nanostructures for simultaneous improvements in light harvesting and charge collection can lead to a significant technical progress in various applications such as photoelectrodes for photoelectrochemical cells and various types of solar cells. Here we present an array of three-dimensional titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanohelixes infiltrated with TiO2 nanoparticles as a multifunctional photoanode for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The unique geometry and the near-single crystallinity of the vertically aligned TiO2 nanohelix array results simultaneously in strong light scattering and enhanced carrier transport and collection, while maintaining a comparable surface area accessible for dye molecules by the infiltrated TiO2 nanoparticles. Consequently, despite a ~40% reduction in dye loading, the overall photon conversion efficiency of the DSSC with the nanoparticle-infiltrated nanohelix-array photoanode is enhanced by 6.2% in comparison with the DSSC with the conventional nanoparticle photoanode.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 47-55 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells |
Volume | 132 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 Jan |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Seung Hee Lee and Jeong Kwon contributed equally to this work. The authors gratefully acknowledge supports by Global Research Network program ( 2011-220-D00064 ) funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) , and by POSCO Fusion Technology Center for Materials .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier B.V.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Surfaces, Coatings and Films