Charge transport improvement employing TiO2 nanotube arrays as front-side illuminated dye-sensitized solar cell photoanodes

Andrea Lamberti; Adriano Sacco; Stefano Bianco; Diego Manfredi; Federica Cappelluti; Simelys Hernandez; Marzia Quaglio; Candido Fabrizio Pirri

doi:10.1039/C2CP41788J

Charge transport improvement employing TiO₂nanotube arrays as front-side illuminated dye-sensitized solar cell photoanodes†‡

Andrea Lamberti,*^ab Adriano Sacco,^a Stefano Bianco,^a Diego Manfredi,^a Federica Cappelluti,^c Simelys Hernandez,^a Marzia Quaglio^a and Candido Fabrizio Pirri^ab

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* Corresponding authors

^a Center for Space Human Robotics@PoliTo, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Corso Trento 21, Turin, Italy
E-mail: andrea.lamberti@iit.it
Fax: +39 011 0903401
Tel: +39 011 0903413

^b Applied Science and Technology Department, Politecnico di Torino Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Turin, Italy

^c Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Turin, Italy

Abstract

TiO₂ nanotube (NT) arrays with different lengths were fabricated by anodic oxidation of Ti foil and free-standing NT membranes were detached by the metal substrate and bonded on the fluorine-doped tin oxide surface implementing an easy procedure. Morphology of the as-grown material and of the prepared photoanode was investigated by means of electron microscopy, deepening the investigation on the thermal treatment effect. Crystalline orientation and exposed surface area were studied by X-ray diffraction and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller measurements, showing suitable characteristics for the application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). DSCs were assembled employing a microfluidic housing system. The cell performances and the electron transport properties as a function of the tube length, before and after a TiCl₄ treatment, were characterized by I–V electrical measurements, incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and open circuit voltage decay. Fitting the impedance spectra with an equivalent circuit, it was possible to obtain information on the electron diffusion properties into the TiO₂ nanotubes. A comparison with the charge transport properties evaluated in nanoparticle-based photoanodes witnesses a noteworthy increase of electron lifetime and diffusion length, yielding an overall power conversion efficiency up to 7.56%.

This article is part of the themed collection: Charge transfer: experiment, theory and computation

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CP41788J
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 30 May 2012
Accepted: 06 Aug 2012
First published: 07 Aug 2012

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Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013,15, 2596-2602

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Charge transport improvement employing TiO₂ nanotube arrays as front-side illuminated dye-sensitized solar cell photoanodes

A. Lamberti, A. Sacco, S. Bianco, D. Manfredi, F. Cappelluti, S. Hernandez, M. Quaglio and C. F. Pirri, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013, 15, 2596 DOI: 10.1039/C2CP41788J

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