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Titania nanotubes decorated with Zn-doped titania nanoparticles as the photoanode electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells

Mokarami Ghartavol, H ; Sharif University of Technology

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1002/ente.201600786
  3. Abstract:
  4. We decorated Zn-doped TiO2-nanoparticle-based photoanodes with carbon nanotube (CNT)-derived TiO2 nanotubes (TNs) to enhance the power conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis verified that Zn ions, in the range of 0 to 1 at %, were successfully doped into the TiO2 lattice. Field-emission SEM and TEM images of the TNs, as derived from the sol–gel template-assisted route, revealed that a uniform TiO2 coating with a thickness of 60 to 120 nm was deposited on the surface of the CNT template through a noncovalent route. We observed that the cell efficiency improved from 6.80 for pure TiO2 to 7.52 for 0.75 at % Zn-doped TiO2 nanoparticles due to a reduction in charge recombination and enhancement in electron injection, as confirmed by using photoluminescence spectroscopy. Further improvements in the efficiency of up to 8.47 % were achieved by the incorporation of 5 wt % TNs into the Zn-doped TiO2 photoanodes, as a result of enhancements in electron transport and light scattering, which was verified by using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
  5. Keywords:
  6. Doping ; Carbon ; Carbon nanotubes ; Doping (additives) ; Efficiency ; Electron transport properties ; Light scattering ; Nanoparticles ; Nanotubes ; Photoluminescence spectroscopy ; Sol-gels ; Solar cells ; Titanium dioxide ; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy ; Yarn ; Zinc ; Cell efficiency ; Charge recombinations ; Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy ; Electron transport ; Field emission SEM ; Power conversion efficiencies ; Sol-gel template ; Titania nanotubes ; Dye-sensitized solar cells
  7. Source: Energy Technology ; Volume 5, Issue 9 , 2017 , Pages 1571-1578 ; 21944288 (ISSN)
  8. URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ente.201600786