Effect of Au nanoparticles added in nanocrystalline TiO2 film on the photoelectrode of dye-sensitised solar cells. (2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Meen, T.H.; Huang, C.J.; Chao, S.M.; Lin, N.Y.; Chen, W.R.; Tsai, J.K.; Wu, T.C.
• Is Part Of: International journal of nanotechnology. Volume 11:Number 12(2014)
• Page Start: 1081
• Page End: 1087
• Publication Date: 2014
• Subjects: TiO2 -- photoelectrode -- dye-sensitised solar cells.; 620.505
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1475-7435

Abstract

In this study, we used a citrate reduction method and electrophoretic deposition (EPD) to prepare hybrid nanocrystalline TiO2 /Au films and applied it to the photoelectrode of dye-sensitised solar cell. The films and solar cells were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), I-V characteristics and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analyses. In the FE-SEM analysis, TiO2 /Au hybrid layers have the porous structure that is advantageous in the dye-loading capacity. The results of EDX reveal that the TiO2 /Au hybrid layer contains 0.28 wt% gold nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction patterns show that the TiO2 /Au hybrid films contain TiO2 anatase and rutile phase, and Au peaks. Under sunlight simulator (AM 1.5 100 mW/cm 2 ) illumination, the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitised solar cell with TiO2 /Au hybrid layer is obviously higher than that of TiO2 film. In the analysis of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the total impedance of hybrid TiO2 /Au photoelectrode is 98.9 Ω, which is lower than that of TiO2 film photoelectrode. These results indicate that TiO2 /Au hybrid layer can increase the conductivity and reduce the recombination of charges in the photoelectrode, resulting in the increase in conversion efficiency for DSSCs.