Morphological and photoelectrochemical characterization of core-shell nanoparticle films for dye-sensitized solar cells: Zn-O type shell on SnO2 and TiO2 cores

Facile synthesis of ZnO-SnO2 anchored ZIF-8 nanocomposite: a potential photocatalyst

For the first time, ZnO-SnO₂ nanocomposite has been anchored (ZS@Z) on ZIF-8 (zeolitic imidazolate framework) surface and encapsulated (ZS@Z1, ZS@Z2 and ZS@Z3) within ZIF-8 matrix during the in situ synthesis of ZIF-8. ZnO-SnO₂ nanocomposites were synthesized in various molar ratio of Zn and Sn, i.e. 1:1, 2:8, 4:6, 6:4 and 8:2 (abbreviated as ZS-11, ZS-28, ZS-46, ZS-64 and ZS-82) using sol-gel and by grinding method (abbreviated as ZS-A, ZS-B, ZS-C, ZS-D and ZS-E). As-synthesized ZnO-SnO₂ nanocomposites have been well characterized using various spectroscopic techniques. Further, ZS-E nanocomposite was succesfully anchored and encapsulated within ZIF-8 due to its good photocatalytic activity. Morphology of ZnO-SnO₂ nanocomposites and their composites (ZS@Z, ZS@Z1, ZS@Z2 and ZS@Z3) was ensured by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and TEM (transmission electron microscopy) images. The lowering of band gap of ZIF-8 from 5.2 to 3.25/3.79 eV confirmed the proper anchored ZnO-SnO₂@ZIF-8. Moreover, XPS analysis was also performed for the analysis of elemental composition of composites. In order to validiate thier photocatalytic application, adsorption capacity and photodegradation efficiency have been examined using methylene blue (MB) as model pollutant. It has been found that 10 mg of ZnO-SnO₂ nanocomposite (ZS-E) exhibits maximum photodegradation efficiency (58.68%) towards MB ([MB] = 1.6 mg L^-1) at pH = 7.89 while ZS@Z, ZS@Z1, ZS@Z2 and ZS@Z3 composites (10 mg, 0.5 mg mL^-1) can degrade off 100%, 93%, 97% and 92% MB, respectively. Hence, ZS@Z, ZS@Z1, ZS@Z2 and ZS@Z3 composites exhibit enhanced photodegradation efficiency as compared to ZIF-8 and ZnO-SnO₂ nanocomposites and can be used for water remediation.

Electrochemical Fingerprint of CuS-Hexagonal Chemistry from (Bis(N-1,4-Phenyl-N-(4-Morpholinedithiocarbamato) Copper(II) Complexes) as Photon Absorber in Quantum-Dot/Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells

The main deficit of quantum dot/dye-sensitised solar cells (QDSSCs) remains the absence of a photosensitiser that can absorb the entire visible spectrum and increase electrocatalytic activity by enhancing the conversion efficiency of QDSSCs. This placed great emphasis on the synthesis route adopted for the preparation of the sensitiser. Herein, we report the fabrication of hexagonal copper monosulfide (CuS) nanocrystals, both hexadecylamine (HDA) capped and uncapped, through thermal decomposition by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and a single-source precursor route. Morphological, structural, and electrochemical instruments were used to assert the properties of both materials. The CuS/HDA photosensitiser demonstrated an appropriate lifetime and electron transfer, while the electron back reaction of CuS lowered the electron lifetime in the QDSSCs. The higher electrocatalytic activity and interfacial resistance observed from current density-voltage (I–V) results agreed with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results for CuS/HDA. The successful fabrication of hexagonal CuS nanostructures of interesting conversion output suggested that both HDA capped and uncapped nanocrystals could be adopted in photovoltaic cells.

Zinc phthalocyanines as light harvesters for SnO2-based solar cells: a case study

SnO₂ nanoparticles have been synthesized and used as electron transport material (ETM) in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), featuring two peripherally substituted push-pull zinc phthalocyanines (ZnPcs) bearing electron donating diphenylamine substituents and carboxylic acid anchoring groups as light harvesters. These complexes were designed on the base of previous computational studies suggesting that the integration of secondary amines as donor groups in the structure of unsymmetrical ZnPcs might enhance photovoltaics performances of DSSCs. In the case of TiO₂-based devices, this hypothesis has been recently questioned by experimental results. Herein we show that the same holds for SnO₂, despite the optimal matching of the optoelectronic characteristics of the synthesized nanoparticles and diphenylamino-substituted ZnPcs, thus confirming that other parameters heavily affect the solar cells performances and should be carefully taken into account when designing materials for photovoltaic applications.

Chemical bath deposition of NiCo2S4 nanostructures supported on a conductive substrate for efficient quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells and methanol oxidation

Hierarchical nanostructures have recently attracted massive attention due to their remarkable performances in energy conversion, storage systems, catalysis, and electronic devices.

Impact of Interfacial Layers in Perovskite Solar Cells

Perovskite solar cells (PCSs) are composed of organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite as the light harvester. Since the first report on a long-term-durable, 9.7 % efficient, solid-state perovskite solar cell, organic-inorganic halide perovskites have received considerable attention because of their excellent optoelectronic properties. As a result, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) exceeding 22 % was certified. Controlling the grain size, grain boundary, morphology, and defects of the perovskite layer is important for achieving high efficiency. In addition, interfacial engineering is equally or more important to further improve the PCE through better charge collection and a reduction in charge recombination. In this Review, the type of interfacial layers and their impact on photovoltaic performance are investigated for both the normal and the inverted cell architectures. Four different interfaces of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)/electron-transport layer (ETL), ETL/perovskite, perovskite/hole-transport layer (HTL), and HTL/metal are classified, and their roles are investigated. The effects of interfacial engineering with organic or inorganic materials on photovoltaic performance are described in detail. Grain-boundary engineering is also included because it is related to interfacial engineering and the grain boundary in the perovskite layer plays an important role in charge conduction, recombination, and chargecarrier life time.

An innovative catalyst design as an efficient electro catalyst and its applications in quantum-dot sensitized solar cells and the oxygen reduction reaction for fuel cells

Highly-efficient Co_90%Ni_10% catalytic nanostructures on FTO and Ni-foam show high performance in QDSSCs and fuel cells.

Inorganic salt templated porous TiO2 photoelectrode for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

Salt template induced TiO₂ photoelectrodes with channels (or pores) were applied to improve the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells.

Photovoltaic performances of Cu2-xTe sensitizer based on undoped and indium(3+)-doped TiO2 photoelectrodes and assembled counter electrodes

Novel binary Cu2-xTe nanoparticles based on undoped and indium-doped TiO2 photoelectrodes were synthesized using a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique as a sensitizer for liquid-junction solar cells. A larger diameter of TiO2 promoted a narrower energy band gap after indium doping, attributing to yield a broader absorption range of nanoparticle sensitizer due to the increasing amount of Cu2-xTe NPs on TiO2 surface. The atomic percentages showed the stoichiometric formation of Cu2Te incorporated in a Cu2-xTe structure. The best photovoltaic performance with the lower SILAR cycle, i.e., n=13 was performed after indium doping in both of carbon and Cu2S CEs and revealed that the efficiency of 0.73% under the radiant 100mW/cm(2) (AM 1.5G). The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to investigate the electrical properties via effect of material doping and counter electrodes with a lower charge-transfer resistance (Rct) and it was also found that the electron lifetime was improved after the sample doped with indium and assembled with carbon CE.

Fabrication of High Efficiency Dye-Sensitised Solar Cell with Zirconia-Doped TiO2 Nanoparticle and Nanowire Composite Photoanode Film

Dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated based on coumarin NKX-2700 dye-sensitised zirconia-doped TiO2 nanoparticle and nanowire composite photoanode film and quasi-solid-state electrolyte, sandwiched together with cobalt sulfide-coated counter electrode. Novel photoanodes were prepared using composite mixtures of 90 wt-% TiO2 nanoparticles + 10 wt-% TiO2 nanowires (TNPWs) as base material and zirconia as doping metal. Hafnium oxide (HfO2) was applied on the zirconia-doped TNPWs (zirconia/TNPWs) film structure as a blocking layer. TiO2 nanoparticles, TiO2 nanowires, and zirconia/TNPWs were characterised by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The sensitising organic dye coumarin, NKX-2700, displayed maximum absorption wavelength (λmax) at 525 nm, which could be observed from the UV-visible spectrum. DSSC-1 built with zirconia/TNPWs-doped photoanode with blocking layer revealed enhanced photo-current efficiency (PCE) as compared with other DSSCs and illustrated photovoltaic parameters: short circuit current JSC = 20 mA m–2, open circuit voltage (VOC = 730 mV, fill factor (FF) = 68 %, and PCE (η) = 9.93 %. The electron transport and charge recombination behaviours of DSSCs were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and the results exhibited that DSSC-1 possessed the lowest charge transfer resistance (Rrec) and longest electron lifetime (τrec) compared with other DSSCs. Therefore, from the present investigation, it could be concluded that the improved performance of DSSC-1 is ascribed to the zirconia/TNPWs-doped photoanode with the blocking layer increasing the short circuit current, electron transport, and suppressing the recombination of charge carriers at the photoanode/dye/electrolyte interface.

Understanding the role of the dye/oxide interface via SnO2-based MK-2 dye-sensitized solar cells

The interfacial blocking layer between dye and oxide was found to play crucial roles in retarding recombination, increasing diffusion, accelerating dye regeneration and narrowing the density of states.

Pt-Ni alloy nanoparticles as superior counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: experimental and theoretical understanding

Pt-Ni alloy nanoparticles are synthesized and used as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) for the first time. A PCE of 9.15% is achieved with the Pt3 Ni counter electrode, displaying an evident improvement compared with the conventional pure Pt (8.33%). The cell stability is also obviously increased with the Pt3 Ni counter electrode.

Gallium-doped tin oxide nano-cuboids for improved dye sensitized solar cell

Tin dioxide (SnO2) is a potential candidate to replace conventional titanium dioxide (TiO2) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) because of its wider bandgap and higher electron mobility. However, SnO2 suffers from low band edge that causes severe backflow of electrons towards electrolyte (charge recombination). Herein, we demonstrate that gallium (Ga) doping can increase the band edge of SnO2, and we show that DSSCs using a Ga-doped SnO2 nano-cuboids based photoanode offer improved open circuit potential (~0.74 V), fill factor (~73.7%), and power conversion efficiency (~4.05%).

Hierarchical SnO₂ nanoparticle-ZnO nanorod photoanode for improving transport and life time of photoinjected electrons in dye-sensitized solar cell

A hierarchical photoanode comprising a SnO(2) nanoparticle underlayer and a ZnO nanorod overlayer was prepared and its photovoltaic performance was compared to photoanodes consisting of SnO(2) nanoparticle only and ZnO nanorod only. The photoanode layer thickness was adjusted to about 7.6 μm to eliminate thickness effect. Ruthenium complex, coded N719, was used as a sensitizer. The photoanode composed of ZnO nanorod only showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) as low as 0.54% with a short-circuit photocurrent density (J(SC)) of 2.04 mA/cm(2) and an open-circuit voltage (V(OC)) of 500 mV. The photoanode with SnO(2) nanoparticle only exhibited higher PCE (1.24%) because of higher J(SC) (6.64 mA/cm(2)), whereas V(OC) (340 mV) was lower than ZnO nanorod. Compared to SnO(2) nanoparticle and ZnO nanorod films, the bilayer structured film demonstrated much higher PCE (2.62%) because of both higher J(SC) (7.35 mA/cm(2)) and V(OC) (660 mV). Introduction of ZnO nanorod on the SnO(2) nanoparticle layer improved significantly electron transport and lifetime compared to the SnO(2) only film. One Order of magnitude slower charge recombination rate for the bilayer film than for the SnO(2) film was mainly responsible for the improved efficiency.

A facile method to prepare SnO2 nanotubes for use in efficient SnO2-TiO2 core-shell dye-sensitized solar cells

A high-efficiency photoelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) should combine the advantageous features of fast electron transport, slow interfacial electron recombination and large specific surface area. However, these three requirements usually cannot be achieved simultaneously in the present state-of-the-art research. Here we report a simple procedure to combine the three conflicting requirements by using porous SnO(2) nanotube-TiO(2) (SnO(2) NT-TiO(2)) core-shell structured photoanodes for DSSCs. The SnO(2) nanotubes are prepared by electrospinning of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)/tin dichloride dihydrate (SnCl(2)·2H(2)O) solution followed by direct sintering of the as-spun nanofibers. A possible evolution mechanism is proposed. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) value of the SnO(2) NT-TiO(2) core-shell structured DSSCs (∼5.11%) is above five times higher than that of SnO(2) nanotube (SnO(2) NT) DSSCs (∼0.99%). This PCE value is also higher than that of TiO(2) nanoparticles (P25) DSSCs (∼4.82%), even though the amount of dye molecules adsorbed to the SnO(2) NT-TiO(2) photoanode is less than half of that in the P25 film. This simple procedure provides a new approach to achieve the three conflicting requirements simultaneously, which has been demonstrated as a promising strategy to obtain high-efficiency DSSCs.

Application of Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Based Photocatalytic Nanomaterials in Solar and Hydrogen Energy: A Short Review

Tremendous amount of research work is going on Titanium dioxide (TiO2) based materials. These materials have many useful applications in our scientific and daily life and it ranges from photovoltaics to photocatalysis to photo-electrochromics, sensors etc.. All these applications can be divided into two broad categories such as environmental (photocatalysis and sensing) and energy (photovoltaics, water splitting, photo-/electrochromics, and hydrogen storage). Synthesis of TiO2nanoparticles with specific size and structural phase is crucial, for solar sell application. Monodispersed spherical colloids with minimum size variation (5% or less) is essential for the fabrication of photonic crystals. When sensitized with organic dyes or inorganic narrow band gap semiconductors, TiO2can absorb light into the visible light region and convert solar energy into electrical energy for solar cell applications. TiO2nanomaterials also have been widely studied for water splitting and hydrogen production due to their suitable electronic band structure given the redox potential of water. Again nanostructured TiO2has extensively been studied for hydrogen storage with good storage capacity and easy releasing procedure. All these issues and related finding will be discussed in this review.

A simple and efficient method using polymer dispersion to prepare controllable nanoporous TiO2 anodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

An efficient method using a polymer dispersion (PD) based on a copolymer of styrene and butyl acrylate to prepare TiO2 electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) was introduced. The obtained TiO2 nanoporous film was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. A porous structure with pore size distribution from tens of nanometers to several hundred nanometers or even micrometers was characterized. This offered the film a feature of high haze factor and porosity. When using the film as photoanode, a quasi-solid-state DSC was successfully fabricated. The device showed an improved per-weight-efficiency by a factor of 2.7, resulting from the reduced interfacial resistance and the enhanced light scattering effect revealed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and transmittance spectroscopy, respectively. The developed PD-based colloid is promising to be applied in production on a large scale as a result of its simple prescription and stability during storage. A proposal to further improve the porous film is also introduced at the end of the paper.

A plasma sputtering decoration route to producing thickness-tunable ZnO/TiO(2) core/shell nanorod arrays

We report a radio frequency magnetron sputtering method for producing TiO(2) shell coatings directly on the surface of ZnO nanorod arrays. ZnO nanorod arrays were firstly fabricated on transparent conducting oxide substrates by a hydrothermal route, and subsequently decorated with TiO(2) by a plasma sputtering deposition process. The core/shell nanorods have single-crystal ZnO cores and anatase TiO(2) shells. The shells are homogeneously coated onto the whole ZnO nanorods without thickness change. This approach enables us to tailor the thickness of the TiO(2) shell for desired photovoltaic applications on a one-nanometer scale. The function of the TiO(2) shell as a blocking layer for increasing charge separation and suppression of the surface recombination was tested in dye-sensitized solar cells. The enhanced photocurrent and open-circuit voltage gave rise to increased photovoltaic efficiency and decreased dark current, indicating successful functioning of the TiO(2) shell.

Effect of coadsorbent on the photovoltaic performance of squaraine sensitized nanocrystalline solar cells

The effect of chenodeoxycholic acid as the coadsorbent with a squaraine sensitizer on TiO(2) nanocrystalline solar cells was investigated, and it was found that the coadsorbent prevents the squaraine sensitizer from aggregating on the TiO(2) nanoparticles but reduces dye loading leading to an interdependent photovoltaic performance. Analysis of the absorption spectra, and incident monochromatic photon-to-current conversion efficiency data showed that the load of squaraine sensitizer as well as the appearance of H-aggregates is strongly dependent on the molar concentration of chenodeoxycholic acid coadsorbent. The open circuit voltage of the solar cells with chenodeoxycholic acid increases due to the enhanced electron lifetime in the TiO(2) nanoparticles coupled with the band edge shift of TiO(2) to negative potentials.

Effect of coadsorbent on the photovoltaic performance of zinc pthalocyanine-sensitized solar cells

The effect of chenodeoxycholic acid as a coadsorbent on TiO 2 nanocrystalline solar cells incorporating phthalocyanine sensitizers was studied under various conditions. Adding chenodeoxycholic acid onto TiO 2 nanoparticles not only reduces the adsorption of phthalocyanine sensitizers but also prevents sensitizer aggregation, leading to different photovoltaic performance. The inspection of IPCE and absorption spectra showed that the load of phthalocyanine sensitizers is strongly dependent on the molar concentration of chenodeoxycholic acid coadsorbent. The open circuit voltage of the solar cells with chenodeoxycholic acid coadsorbent increases due to the enhanced electron lifetime in TiO 2 nanoparticles coupled with the band edge shift of TiO 2 to negative potentials.