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Synergistic effect of TiO2 hierarchical submicrospheres for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

The performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) could be improved by using rationally designed mesoporous film structure for electron collection, dye adsorption and light scattering. The development of a novel double layer film prepared by TiO2 hierarchical submicrospheres and nanoparticles was reported in this article. The submicrospheres were composed of rutile nanorods of 10 nm diameter and the length of 150–250 nm, which facilitated fast electron transport, charge collection and light scattering. Using a double layer structure consisting of the 10 wt% film as a dye loading layer and the 50 wt% film as the light scattering layer, C101 sensitizer and liquid electrolyte, DSC yielded power conversion efficiency of 9.68% under 1 sun illumination.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the External Cooperation Program of BIC, Chinese Academy of Sciences (GJHZ1607), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51572080, 21403262), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LR16F040002) and International S&T Cooperation Program of Ningbo (2015D10021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, China

    Jiang Sheng & Jichun Ye

  2. Key Laboratory of Novel Thin Film Solar Cells, Institute of Applied Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Anhui, 230031, China

    Linhua Hu & Li’e Mo

  3. State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Songyuan Dai

Authors
  1. Jiang Sheng
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  2. Linhua Hu
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  3. Li’e Mo
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  4. Jichun Ye
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  5. Songyuan Dai
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Correspondence to Jichun Ye or Songyuan Dai.

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Sheng, J., Hu, L., Mo, L. et al. Synergistic effect of TiO2 hierarchical submicrospheres for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells. Sci. China Chem. 60, 822–828 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-016-0428-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-016-0428-3

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