Departmental Papers (CBE)
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
7-1-2014
Publication Source
Scientific Reports
Volume
4
DOI
10.1038/srep05505
Abstract
Organized mesoporous TiO2 Bragg stacks (om-TiO2 BS) consisting of alternating high and low refractive index organized mesoporous TiO2(om-TiO2) films were prepared to enhance dye loading, light harvesting, electron transport, and electrolyte pore-infiltration in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The om-TiO2 films were synthesized via a sol-gel reaction using amphiphilic graft copolymers consisting of poly(vinyl chloride) backbones and poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) side chains, i.e., PVC-g-POEM as templates. To generate high and low index films, the refractive index of om-TiO2 film was tuned by controlling the grafting ratio of PVC-g-POEM via atomic transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). A polymerized ionic liquid (PIL)-based DSSC fabricated with a 1.2-μm-thick om-TiO2 BS-based photoanode exhibited an efficiency of 4.3%, which is much higher than that of conventional DSSCs with a nanocrystalline TiO2 layer (nc-TiO2 layer) (1.7%). A PIL-based DSSC with a heterostructured photoanode consisting of 400-nm-thick organized mesoporous TiO2 interfacial (om-TiO2 IF) layer, 7-μm-thick nc-TiO2, and 1.2-μm-thick om-TiO2 BS as the bottom, middle and top layers, respectively, exhibited an excellent efficiency of 7.5%, which is much higher than that of nanocrystaline TiO2 photoanode (3.5%)
Keywords
chemical engineering, solar cells
Recommended Citation
Park, J. T., Chi, W. S., Kim, S. J., Lee, D., & Kim, J. H. (2014). Mesoporous TiO2 Bragg Stack Templated by Graft Copolymer for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. Scientific Reports, 4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep05505
Date Posted: 25 October 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.