Evaluating the Critical Thickness of TiO 2 Layer on Insulating Mesoporous Templates for Efficient Current Collection in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Aravind Kumar Chandiran, Pascal Comte, Robin Humphry-Baker, Florian Kessler, Chenyi Yi, Md. Khaja Nazeeruddin, Michael Grätzel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, a way of utilizing thin and conformal overlayer of titanium dioxide on an insulating mesoporous template as a photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells is presented. Different thicknesses of TiO2 ranging from 1 to 15 nm are deposited on the surface of the template by atomic layer deposition. This systematic study helps unraveling the minimum critical thickness of the TiO2 overlayer required to transport the photogenerated electrons efficiently. A merely 6-nm-thick TiO2 film on a 3-μm mesoporous insulating substrate is shown to transport 8 mA/cm 2 of photocurrent density along with ≈900 mV of open-circuit potential when using our standard donor-π-acceptor sensitizer and Co(bipyridine) redox mediator. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2775-2781
Number of pages7
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume23
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 15 2013
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Evaluating the Critical Thickness of TiO 2 Layer on Insulating Mesoporous Templates for Efficient Current Collection in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this