(99h) Study of Electron Transport Mechanism in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell with the Effect of Morphology, Crystalline Structure and Electron Mobility

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are one of the most promising developments in photovoltaic devices. To obtain high efficiency DSSCs, extensive research has been carried out to consider the effect of dyes, electrolytes, and alternatives to titania.

The performance of photovoltaic devices could be improved by using nano-composites which can provide high electron mobility and efficiently collect photo-generated electrons through a better understanding of their fundamentals. One-dimensional nanomaterials including Single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) and metals, such as gold and silver, exhibit very high electron mobility.

However, the incorporation of such materials into DSSCs for efficient photovoltaic performance is still challenging. Also the fundamental of the above system is not well understood.

This study focuses on the synthesis of core-shell nano-compositesmade of TiO₂­­, various metals, and CNTs. Several fabrication techniques including chemical vapor deposition, electrochemical deposition, spin-coating, and electro spinning were applied to create various nanostructured composite materials such as one dimensional nanorods, nanowires, and nanotubes. Designing core-shell nanostructures of TiO₂in DSSC help us investigate and compare electron transfer properties of the different core materials.

The Mechanistic study of the DSSCs were carried out by using the following techniques: UV-vis scoptrocopy, time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy, impedance analyzer in combination. In addition, characterization methods such as TEM, SEM, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy were used. These studies will help to better understand the principle of DSSCs and better design efficient DSSC devices.