Stable anatase TiO2 coating on quartz fibers by atomic layer deposition for photoactive light-scattering in dye-sensitized solar cells

作者：Kim Do Han; Koo Hyung Jun; Jur Jesse S; Woodroof Mariah; Kalanyan Berc; Lee Kyoungmi; Devine Christina K; Parsons Gregory N^*

来源：Nanoscale, 2012, 4(15): 4731-4738.

DOI：10.1039/c2nr30939d

Quartz fibers provide a unique high surface-area substrate suitable for conformal coating using atomic layer deposition (ALD), and are compatible with high temperature annealing. This paper shows that the quartz fiber composition stabilizes ALD TiO2 in the anatase phase through TiO2-SiO2 interface formation, even after annealing at 1050 degrees C. When integrated into a dye-sensitized solar cell, the TiO2-coated quartz fiber mat improves light scattering performance. Results also confirm that annealing at high temperature is necessary for better photoactivity of ALD TiO2, which highlights the significance of quartz fibers as a substrate. The ALD TiO2 coating on quartz fibers also boosts dye adsorption and photocurrent response, pushing the overall efficiency of the dye-cells from 6.5 to 7.4%. The mechanisms for improved cell performance are confirmed using wavelength-dependent incident photon to current efficiency and diffuse light scattering results. The combination of ALD and thermal processing on quartz fibers may enable other device structures for energy conversion and catalytic reaction applications.

• 出版日期2012