title: Increasing photocurrents in dye sensitized solar cells with tantalum-doped titanium oxide photoanodes obtained by laser ablation.
abstract: Laser ablation is employed to produce vertically aligned nanostructured films of undoped and tantalum-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles. Dye-sensitized solar cells using the two different materials are compared. Tantalum-doped TiO(2) photoanode show 65% increase in photocurrents and around 39% improvement in overall cell efficiency compared to undoped TiO(2). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, Mott-Schottky analysis and open circuit voltage decay is used to investigate the cause of this improved performance. The enhanced performance is attributed to a combination of increased electron concentration in the semiconductor and a reduced electron recombination rate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Rudresh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Alibabaei
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rangan
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartynski
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Rene
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lopez
mesh_terms: D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D058266:Dielectric Spectroscopy; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D007834:Lasers; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D012993:Solar Energy; D013635:Tantalum / Q000737:chemistry*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; C009495:titanium dioxide; D013635:Tantalum; D014025:Titanium