Hierarchically Structured Microspheres for High-Efficiency Rutile TiO2-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

作者：Ye, Meidan; Zheng, Dajiang; Wang, Mengye; Chen, Chang; Liao, Wenming; Lin, Changjian^*; Lin, Zhiqun

来源：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2014, 6(4): 2893-2901.

DOI：10.1021/am405442n

• rutile TiO2
• microspheres
• low-temperature synthesis
• chemical bath method
• dye-sensitized solar cells
• post-treatments
• light-to-electricity conversion efficiency

Peachlike rutile TiO2 microsphere films were successfully produced on transparent conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate via a facile, one-pot chemical bath route at low temperature (T = 80-85 degrees C) by introducing polyethylene glycol (PEG) as steric dispersant. The formation of TiO2 microspheres composed of nanoneedles was attributed to the acidic medium for the growth of 1D needle-shaped building blocks where the steric interaction of PEG reduced the aggregation of TiO2 nanoneedles and the Ostwald ripening process. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) assembled by employing these complex rutile TiO2 microspheres as photoanodes exhibited a light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 2.55%. It was further improved to a considerably high efficiency of 5.25% upon a series of post-treatments (i.e., calcination, TiCl4 treatment, and O-2 plasma exposure) as a direct consequence of the well-crystallized TiO2 for fast electron transport, the enhanced capacity of dye loading, the effective light scattering, and trapping from microstructures.

• 出版日期2014-2-26
• 单位天津大学; 厦门大学