Guldin, S;
Huettner, S;
Tiwana, P;
Orilall, MC;
Uelguet, B;
Stefik, M;
Docampo, P;
... Steiner, U; + view all
(2011)
Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO2 crystallisation.
Energy & Environmental Science
, 4
, Article 1. 10.1039/c0ee00362j.
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Abstract
Anatase TiO2 is typically a central component in high performance dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs). This study demonstrates the benefits of high temperature synthesised mesoporous titania for the performance of solid-state DSCs. In contrast to earlier methods, the high temperature stability of mesoporous titania is enabled by the self-assembly of the amphiphilic block copolymer polyisoprene-block-polyethylene oxide (PI-b -PEO) which compartmentalises TiO2 crystallisation, preventing the collapse of porosity at temperatures up to 700 degrees C. The systematic study of the temperature dependence on DSC performance reveals a parameter trade-off: high temperature annealed anatase consisted of larger crystallites and had a higher conductivity, but this came at the expense of a reduced specific surface area. While the reduction in specific surface areas was found to be detrimental for liquid-electrolyte DSC performance, solid-state DSCs benefitted from the increased anatase conductivity and exhibited a performance increase by a factor of three.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO2 crystallisation |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1039/c0ee00362j |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c0ee00362j |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work was funded in part by the EPSRC Nanotechnology Grand Challenges Energy grant (EP/F056702/1), and EP/F065884/1, the Department of Energy (DE-FG02 87ER45298) through the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute (CFCI), the National Science Foundation (DMR-0605856), and the Cornell Universiy KAUST Center for Research and Education. SG acknowledges support by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and CD thanks the Royal Society for funding. We thank T. Abraham for help with the XRD measurements, P. Laity for help with SAXS measurements, and P. Muller-Buschbaum for useful discussions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1446953 |
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