Titanium dioxide nanorod diameter and layer porosity optimization by estimating electrical performance of dye and perovskite sensitized solar cell

• Published in: Journal of porous materials 2017-02, Vol.24 (1), p.217-231
• Main Authors: Raval, Dhyey, Tripathi, Brijesh, Ray, Abhijit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalysis; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Current density; Dyes; Energy harvesting; Fluorine; Nanorods; Nanostructure; Optimization; Perovskites; Photovoltaic cells; Physical Chemistry; Porosity; Separation; Solar cells; Solar energy; Substrates; Tin oxides; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 1380-2224; 1573-4854
• DOI: 10.1007/s10934-016-0255-3

This article reports the synthesis of vertically oriented titanium dioxide nanorod (TiO 2 -NR) layer on fluorine doped tin oxide substrate using hydrothermal method and its application in solar energy harvesting. The morphological variations of TiO 2 -NR have been achieved by varying precursor concentration and growth temperature in the hydrothermal process. The porosity of TiO 2 -NR layer decreases from 49 to 11 % with increasing NR diameter from 70 to 204 nm for various practically achievable inter-rod separations. The effect of TiO 2 -NR layer parameters, such as, nanorod diameter, inter-rod separation, and porosity on the charge collection has been explored through theoretical and experimental photo-generated current density of the dye and perovskite (CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 ) solar cells to find the optimum range. High current density with a deviation of ±10 % of the best value can be achieved for a porosity range of 35–65 %, which corresponds to the nanorod diameter range of 75 ± 8, 95 ± 14, 110 ± 16, 130 ± 20 and 150 ± 22 nm for the inter-rod separation of 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 nm respectively.