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Dye‐Sensitised Solar Cells Based on Large‐Pore Mesoporous TiO 2 with Controllable Pore Diameters
Author(s) -
Pan Kai,
Zhou Wei,
Tian Guohui,
Pan Qingjiang,
Tian Chungui,
Xie Tengfeng,
Dong Youzhen,
Wang Dejun,
Fu Honggang
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european journal of inorganic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1099-0682
pISSN - 1434-1948
DOI - 10.1002/ejic.201100395
Subject(s) - dye sensitized solar cell , mesoporous material , electrolyte , energy conversion efficiency , chemical engineering , chemistry , electrode , nanotechnology , nanomaterials , sorption , porosity , redox , adsorption , materials science , inorganic chemistry , optoelectronics , catalysis , organic chemistry , engineering
Mesoporous TiO 2 (meso‐TiO 2 ) is a promising photoelectrical nanomaterial for high dye‐sensitised solar cell (DSSC) performance, because its nanochannels offer a large internal surface area to allow for more dye adsorption. The interconnected grains facilitate rapid electron transport both within the meso‐TiO 2 film and at the film electrode dye/redox shuttle electrolyte interfaces. In this work, a series of DSSCs has been fabricated on the basis of meso‐TiO 2 with large controllable pore sizes (6.5, 8.2 and 11.0 nm). It was found that the DSSC with the 8.2 nm meso‐TiO 2 photoelectrode has the highest photoelectrical conversion efficiency, which is higher than that of the conventional P25 nanoparticulate DSSC under the same conditions. The measurements of the N 2 sorption isotherms and the photovoltage transient demonstrates that such improved efficiency can be ascribed to the larger surface area and the fastest interfacial charge transfer. Meanwhile, the effect of different pore sizes on the photoelectrical conversion efficiency has been systematically investigated, and a possible model for the efficient electrolyte percolation in the dye‐sensitised mesoporous photoelectrode has been proposed.