access icon free Effect of TiO2 blocking layer synthesised by a sol–gel method in performances of fluorine-doped tin oxide/TiO2/dyed-TiO2/electrolyte/pt/fluorine-doped tin oxide solar cells based on natural mallow dye

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin film prepared by sol–gel technique and deposed by spin coating was used as the blocking layer between fluorine doped tin oxide and dyed TiO2 photoanode deposed by doctor blade in dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC). The synthesised films show a polycrystalline structure at annealing temperature of 400°C with small amount of amorphous phase observed at 300°C. The values of the electrical conductivity varies from 0.11 to 1.17 Ω−1 cm−1 for one and two layers thin films, respectively, and the corresponding activation energies decreased as a function of the thickness, it passes from 109 meV for one layer to 55 meV for two layers. The photoanode of the DSSC was sensitised by the mallow diluted in ethanol having absorption spectra with two peaks, one around 480 nm (blue light) and the second at 665 nm (red light) attributable to the chlorophyll mixture. Improvement of the electrical performance is due to the increased electron lifetime and decreased of the recombination process showed by the open circuit voltage decay measurement. The lifetime values increase from 0.80 ms for the cell without blocking layer to 1.24 ms for the cell based on the blocking layer.

Inspec keywords: tin compounds; fluorine; electrical conductivity; semiconductor thin films; carrier lifetime; dye-sensitised solar cells; annealing; titanium compounds; electrolytes; sol-gel processing

Other keywords: electron lifetime; open circuit voltage decay measurement; dye-sensitised solar cell; electrical conductivity; amorphous phase; titanium dioxide thin film; sol–gel method; blocking layer effect; activation energies; photoanode; ethanol; spin coating; chlorophyll mixture; annealing temperature; temperature 300 degC to 400 degC; recombination process; polycrystalline structure; absorption spectra; TiO2-SnO:F

Subjects: Thin film growth, structure, and epitaxy; Annealing processes; Charge carriers: generation, recombination, lifetime, and trapping (semiconductors/insulators); Electrochemistry and electrophoresis; Photoelectrochemical conversion; Other methods of preparation of materials; Solar cells and arrays; Deposition from liquid phases (melts and solutions)

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http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/mnl.2015.0154
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