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TiO2/Dye/Electrolyte Interface Engineering by Atomic Layer Deposited Ultra Thin SiO2 for Improved Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Mariyappan Shanmugam ,
Braden Bills  and
Mahdi Farrokh Baroughi
Mariyappan Shanmugam
Affiliation:
Mariyappan.Shanmugam@sdstate.edu, South Dakota State University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Brookings, South Dakota, United States
Braden Bills
Affiliation:
blbills@jacks.sdstate.edu, South Dakota State University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Brookings, South Dakota, United States
Mahdi Farrokh Baroughi
Affiliation:
m.farrokhbaroughi@sdstate.edu, South Dakota State University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Brookings, South Dakota, United States
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Abstract

The short circuit density (JSC) and open circuit voltage (VOC) of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were improved from 9.8 to 17.8 mA/cm2 and 728 to 743 mV by depositing an ultra thin SiO2 layer on mesoporous TiO2 using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) method. X ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the growth of SiO2 on mesoporous TiO2 surface. It was also observed that the enhancement in DSSC performance highly depends on the thickness of the ALD grown SiO2 layers on mesoporous TiO2. Compared to the reference DSSC which used untreated TiO2, incorporation of 5 ALD cycles (about 5 atomic layers) of SiO2 on mesoporous TiO2 resulted in 80 % enhancement (E) in the photoconversion efficiency from 4 to 7.2%. It is believed that the deposition of the ultra thin SiO2 film on mesoporous TiO2 modifies the density and activity of the surface states and an optimized layer thickness (5 cycles) leads to significant improvement in the DSSC performance. The enhanced photovoltaic performance was confirmed by dark and illuminated I-V and external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements.

Keywords

atomic layer depositionpassivationdefects
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1260: Symposium T – Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics from Nanoparticles , 2010 , 1260-T10-37
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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