Nanothorn photoanodes: A new approach for efficiency enhancement in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are a promising alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells due to their low cost, lightweight, and flexible nature. A proficient photoanode is vital layer for obtaining high efficiency in DSSCs. Achieving this proficiency can be accomplished by selecting suitable materials and optimizing the device architecture. In this works, a preliminary result of novel nanothorn photoanode layer was obtained for the first time by a combination layer of rutile TiO2 nanoflower (rT-NF) synthesized by hydrothermal method and coated with Cu2o (rTCu2O-NF) by RF Magnetron sputtering method with 30 mins and 60 mins time deposition at high RF power source. The field emission scanning electron micrograph, X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy and current density to voltage characteristics, were used to investigate the morphology, structural, optical and electrical properties of rT-NF and rTCu2O-NF layer. The evaluation revealed that the optical bandgap energy decreased from 3.0 eV to 2.63 eV with increasing deposition time of Cu2o. The study observed a distinctive nanothorn morphology in the rTCu2O-NF photoanode layer after a prolonged sputtering process at high RF power for 60 minutes, which resulted in the highest power conversion efficiency of 8.34% among the tested samples. This finding suggests that modifying the nanoflower structure into a nanothorn structure by extending the sputtering time at high RF power during the photoanode deposition process can considerably enhance the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells.