A detailed study on the working mechanism of a heteropoly acid modified TiO2 photoanode for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Yanxia Jiang; Yulin Yang; Liangsheng Qiang; Ruiqing Fan; Liang Li; Tengling Ye; Yong Na; Yan Shi; Tianzhu Luan

doi:10.1039/C4CP05795C

A detailed study on the working mechanism of a heteropoly acid modified TiO₂ photoanode for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells†

Yanxia Jiang,^a Yulin Yang,*^a Liangsheng Qiang,^a Ruiqing Fan,*^a Liang Li,^a Tengling Ye,^a Yong Na,^a Yan Shi^a and Tianzhu Luan^b

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* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Chemistry, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, P. R. China
E-mail: ylyang@hit.edu.cn, fanruiqing@hit.edu.cn
Fax: +86-451-86418270

^b The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, P. R. China

Abstract

A novel heteropolyacid (HPA) K₆SiW₁₁O₃₉Ni(H₂O)·xH₂O (SiW₁₁Ni) modified TiO₂ has been successfully synthesized and introduced into the photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The performance of the cell with the HPA-modified photoanode (SiW₁₁Ni/TiO₂), mixed with P25 powder in the ratio of 2 : 8, is better than the cell with a pristine P25 photoanode. An increase of 31% in the photocurrent and 22% improvement in the conversion efficiency are obtained. The effect of the heteropolyacid was well studied by UV-vis spectroscopy, spectro-electrochemical spectroscopy, dark current, intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy and intensity-modulated photovoltage spectroscopy, open-circuit voltage decay and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results show that the interfacial layer modified by SiW₁₁Ni can enhance the injection and transport of electrons, and then retard the recombination of electrons, which results in a longer electron lifetime. What's more, the introduction of SiW₁₁Ni can simultaneously broaden the absorption in the visible region, eventually leading to an efficient increase in energy conversion efficiency.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C4CP05795C
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 11 Dec 2014
Accepted: 30 Jan 2015
First published: 04 Feb 2015

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Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015,17, 6778-6785

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A detailed study on the working mechanism of a heteropoly acid modified TiO₂ photoanode for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Y. Jiang, Y. Yang, L. Qiang, R. Fan, L. Li, T. Ye, Y. Na, Y. Shi and T. Luan, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2015, 17, 6778 DOI: 10.1039/C4CP05795C

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