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Defeating Loss Mechanisms in 1D TiO 2 ‐Based Hybrid Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Wisnet A.,
Bader K.,
Betzler S. B.,
Handloser M.,
Ehrenreich P.,
Pfadler T.,
Weickert J.,
Hartschuh A.,
SchmidtMende L.,
Scheu C.,
Dorman J. A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201404010
Subject(s) - materials science , mesoporous material , nanotechnology , semiconductor , fabrication , energy conversion efficiency , annealing (glass) , nanostructure , titanium dioxide , charge carrier , hybrid solar cell , optoelectronics , polymer solar cell , catalysis , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , metallurgy , composite material
Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) semiconductors are widely used in energy conversion, energy storage, catalysis, and other electronic applications. Hydrothermally grown TiO 2 nanowires are an alternative to mesoporous TiO 2 nanostructures due to possible direct charge transport, but their full potential waits to be unleashed. Latest findings show a peculiar defect structure, consisting of small single‐crystalline fingers and free internal surfaces, which supposedly promote a number of loss mechanisms. In this paper, the influence of these defects on charge transport is studied on the basis of hybrid solar cells featuring a TiO 2 /dye/polymer interface. Electrical, optical, and structural characterization identifies a number of loss mechanisms, which are inhibited by the introduction of particular annealing steps at specific processing points during fabrication. An increase in power‐conversion efficiency of 35% is obtained, resulting in 2.71% and surpassing mesoporous films of the same material combination. These results suggest that caution has to be exercised when dealing with defect structures possibly present in metal oxides which appear single‐crystalline by conventional analysis methods.