Improved Conductivity in Dye-sensitised Solar Cells Through Block-copolymer Confined TiO2 Crystallization

Anatase TiO2 is typically a central component in high performance dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs). This study demonstrates the benefits of high temperature synthesised mesoporous titania for the performance of solid-state DSCs. In contrast to earlier methods, the high temperature stability of mesoporous titania is enabled by the self-assembly of the amphiphilic block copolymer polyisoprene-block-polyethylene oxide (PI-b -PEO) which compartmentalises TiO2 crystallisation, preventing the collapse of porosity at temperatures up to 700 °C. The systematic study of the temperature dependence on DSC performance reveals a parameter trade-off: high temperature annealed anatase consisted of larger crystallites and had a higher conductivity, but this came at the expense of a reduced specific surface area. While the reduction in specific surface areas was found to be detrimental for liquid-electrolyte DSC performance, solid-state DSCs benefitted from the increased anatase conductivity and exhibited a performance increase by a factor of three.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Guldin, S., Huttner, S., Tiwana, P., Orilall, M.C., Ulgut, B., Stefik, M., Docampo, P., Kolle, M., Divitini, G., Ducati, C., Redfern, S.A.T., Snaith, H.J., Wiesner, U.B., Eder, D., Steiner, U.
Format:	article biblioteca
Language:	en_US
Published:	The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011-01-02
Subjects:	Dye-sensitised, Solar cells, Mesoporous titania,
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/1813/33450
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