Visible to near-infrared light harvesting in TiO2 nanotube array-P3HT based heterojunction solar cells.
The development of high-efficiency solid-state excitonic photovoltaic solar cells compatible with solution processing techniques is a research area of intense interest, with the poor optical harvesting in the red and near-IR (NIR) portion of the solar spectrum a significant limitation to device performance. Herein we present a solid-state solar cell design, consisting of TiO(2) nanotube arrays vertically oriented from the FTO-coated glass substrate, sensitized with unsymmetrical squaraine dye (SQ-1) that absorbs in the red and NIR portion of solar spectrum, and which are uniformly infiltrated with p-type regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) that absorbs higher energy photons. Our solid-state solar cells exhibit broad, near-UV to NIR, spectral response with external quantum yields of up to 65%. Under UV filtered AM 1.5G of 90 mW/cm(2) intensity we achieve typical device photoconversion efficiencies of 3.2%, with champion device efficiencies of 3.8%.
Department of Electrical Engineering, The Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, Center for Solar Nanomaterials, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
Gopal K
GK
Mor
Sanghoon
S
Kim
Maggie
M
Paulose
Oomman K
OK
Varghese
Karthik
K
Shankar
James
J
Basham
Craig A
CA
Grimes
D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007259:Infrared Rays; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016566:Organoselenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012993:Solar Energy; D013499:Surface Properties; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D016566:Organoselenium Compounds; C526212:poly(3-hexyl)selenophene; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium