Aligned TiO2 nanocolumnar layers prepared by PVD-GLAD for transparent dye sensitized solar cells

Transparent thin film electrodes made of vertically aligned nanocolumns of TiO2 with well-controlled oblique angles were grown by physical vapor deposition at glancing incidence (PVD-GLAD). For an electrode thickness of 500 nm, we report a 40% variation on solar cell efficiency (from 0.6% to 1.04%) when the deposition angle was modified between 60° and 85°. Transparent thicker films with higher surface area deposited at the optimal angle of 70° were grown with a zigzag morphology which confers high mechanical strength to the thin films. Using this topology, the application of an electrode thickness of 3 µm in a DSC resulted in a power conversion efficiency of 2.78% maintaining electrode transparency.

[1]  A. Gonzalez-Elipe,et al.  Design and control of porosity in oxide thin films grown by PECVD , 2006 .

[2]  Monica Lira-Cantu,et al.  Nb-TiO2/polymer hybrid solar cells with photovoltaic response under inert atmosphere conditions , 2010 .

[3]  J. Hsu,et al.  ZnO nanostructures as efficient antireflection layers in solar cells. , 2008, Nano letters.

[4]  Guido Viscardi,et al.  Combined experimental and DFT-TDDFT computational study of photoelectrochemical cell ruthenium sensitizers. , 2005, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[5]  B. M. Henry,et al.  Study of the effect of changing the microstructure of titania layers on composite solar cell performance , 2006 .

[6]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  Recent advances in sensitized mesoscopic solar cells. , 2009, Accounts of chemical research.

[7]  Hidetoshi Miura,et al.  Application of highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays in flexible dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2008, ACS nano.

[8]  Michael J. Brett,et al.  Dye sensitized solar cells incorporating obliquely deposited titanium oxide layers , 2005 .

[9]  Guo-Qiang Lo,et al.  Improved dye-sensitized solar cells with a ZnO-nanoflower photoanode , 2007 .

[10]  Javier Roales,et al.  Active and optically transparent tetracationic porphyrin/TiO(2) composite thin films. , 2010, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[11]  Monica Lira-Cantu,et al.  Dye sensitized solar cells based on vertically-aligned ZnO nanorods: effect of UV light on power conversion efficiency and lifetime , 2010 .

[12]  S. Shaheen,et al.  The Effect of Atmosphere and ZnO Morphology on the Performance of Hybrid Poly(3-hexylthiophene)/ZnO Nanofiber Photovoltaic Devices , 2007 .

[13]  Kion Norrman,et al.  Detrimental Effect of Inert Atmospheres on Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Semiconductor Oxides , 2007 .

[14]  C. S. Chen,et al.  Annealing effect on the microstructure and photoluminescence of ZnO thin films , 2007 .

[15]  G. Boschloo,et al.  Porous One‐Dimensional Photonic Crystals Improve the Power‐Conversion Efficiency of Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells , 2009 .

[16]  Guozhong Cao,et al.  Aggregation of ZnO nanocrystallites for high conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2008, Angewandte Chemie.

[17]  F. Krebs,et al.  Hybrid solar cells based on MEH-PPV and thin film semiconductor oxides (TiO2, Nb2O5, ZnO, CeO2 and CeO2–TiO2): Performance improvement during long-time irradiation , 2006 .

[18]  Monica Lira-Cantu,et al.  Vertically-aligned nanostructures of ZnO for excitonic solar cells: a review , 2009 .

[19]  M. Grätzel,et al.  A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films , 1991, Nature.

[20]  Nicholas G. Wakefield,et al.  Surface area characterization of obliquely deposited metal oxide nanostructured thin films. , 2010, Langmuir.

[21]  C. Grimes,et al.  Vertically aligned single crystal TiO2 nanowire arrays grown directly on transparent conducting oxide coated glass: synthesis details and applications. , 2008, Nano letters.

[22]  Michael J. Brett,et al.  Nanostructure engineering in porous columnar thin films: recent advances , 2007 .

[23]  X. J. Wang,et al.  Oxygen and zinc vacancies in as-grown ZnO single crystals , 2009 .

[24]  Monica Lira-Cantu,et al.  Influence of doped anions on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) as hole conductors for iodine-free solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2008, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[25]  A. Gonzalez-Elipe,et al.  Porosity and microstructure of plasma deposited TiO2 thin films , 2009 .

[26]  F. Krebs,et al.  Oxygen Release and Exchange in Niobium Oxide MEHPPV Hybrid Solar Cells , 2006 .

[27]  M. Jacquet,et al.  Structural and optical studies of ZnO thin films deposited by r.f. magnetron sputtering: influence of annealing , 2003 .

[28]  Y. Gaillard,et al.  Nanoindentation of TiO2 thin films with different microstructures , 2009 .

[29]  M. Wong,et al.  Glancing angle deposited titania films for dye-sensitized solar cells , 2009 .

[30]  J. Nowotny,et al.  Defect Chemistry of Titanium Dioxide. Application of Defect Engineering in Processing of TiO2-Based Photocatalysts† , 2008 .

[31]  Michael J. Brett,et al.  Glancing angle deposition: Fabrication, properties, and applications of micro- and nanostructured thin films , 2007 .