Low temperature synthesis of flower-like TiO2 nanospheres directly from block-graft copolymer precursors and their uses in quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells

We report a low temperature synthetic method for preparing flower-like TiO2 nanospheres (f-TiO2 NS) directly from an amphiphilic block-graft copolymer precursor. The copolymer, consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) titanium triisopropoxide (PEGTTIP) and polystyrene (PS), was synthesized via atom trans...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Electrochimica acta 2012-10, Vol.80, p.27-33
Main Authors: Seo, Jin Ah, Roh, Dong Kyu, Koh, Jong Kwan, Kim, Sang Jin, Jung, Bumsuk, Kim, Jong Hak
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP)
Block copolymers
Copolymers
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs)
Dyes
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Graft copolymer
Light scattering
Natural energy
Photovoltaic conversion
Polystyrene resins
Precursors
Scattering
Solar cells
Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells
Solar energy
TiO2 nanospheres
Titanium dioxide
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We report a low temperature synthetic method for preparing flower-like TiO2 nanospheres (f-TiO2 NS) directly from an amphiphilic block-graft copolymer precursor. The copolymer, consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) titanium triisopropoxide (PEGTTIP) and polystyrene (PS), was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The copolymer was directly hydrolyzed at 90°C for 6h without any additives to generate rutile-phase f-TiO2 NS that were approximately 800nm in size, as confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy (EF-TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The energy conversion efficiency of quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (qssDSSCs) fabricated with f-TiO2 NS (4.4% at 100mW/cm2) as a scattering layer (SL) was greater than those without f-TiO2 NS (3.8% for 10μm, 3.9% for 17μm) and was quite comparable to cells with a commercial scattering layer (CSL). The improved efficiency is attributed to the increased dye loading and improved light scattering effect, as confirmed by incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) measurements
ISSN:0013-4686
1873-3859
DOI:10.1016/j.electacta.2012.06.058