Tin oxide microspheres with exposed {101} facets for dye-sensitized solar cells: enhanced photocurrent and photovoltage.
Hierarchical SnO2 microspheres with exposed {101} facets are synthesized by a one-pot solvothermal reaction and explored as a scattering layer on top of a SnO2 nanoparticle film for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The microspheres not only enhance photon harvesting by effective light scattering/reflecting but also improve the energy level of the conduction band edge of the SnO2 photoanode, which leads to a simultaneous increase of the short-circuit photocurrent by 17% and open-circuit photovoltage by 20%. An improved overall conversion efficiency of 3.46% is achieved for DSCs using the SnO2 microspheres, which is the highest value reported so far for pure-SnO2 DSCs. Moreover, the SnO2 -microsphere DSCs exhibit a better photostability than the conventional TiO2 DSCs under simulated full sunlight.
Photovoltaic Materials Unit, National Institute of Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047 (Japan).
Wenqin
W
Peng
Xudong
X
Yang
Zhenhua
Z
Chen
Jing
J
Zhang
Han
H
Chen
Kun
K
Zhang
Liyuan
L
Han
D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004566:Electrodes; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D008863:Microspheres; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D012993:Solar Energy; D013472:Sunlight; D013861:Thiocyanates / Q000737:chemistry; D017971:Tin Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*
D004396:Coloring Agents; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D013861:Thiocyanates; D017971:Tin Compounds; C506095:bis(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylate)ruthenium(II) bis(tetrabutylammonium) bis(thiocyanate); C045358:stannic oxide
dye-sensitized solar cells; nanoparticles; photochemistry; synthesis design; tin