23 September 2017 Zr-doped TiO2 as a thermostabilizer in plasmon-enhanced dye-sensitized solar cells
Anastasia Pasche, Bernd Grohe, Silvia Mittler, Paul A. Charpentier
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Harvesting solar energy is a promising solution toward meeting the world’s ever-growing energy demand. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are hybrid organic–inorganic solar cells with tremendous potential for commercial application, but they are plagued by inefficiency due to their poor sunlight absorption. Plasmonic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been shown to enhance the absorptive properties of DSSCs, but their plasmonic resonance can cause thermal damage resulting in cell deterioration. Hence, the influence of Zr-doped TiO2 on the efficiency of plasmon-enhanced DSSCs was studied, showing that 5 mol.% Zr-doping of the photoactive TiO2 material can improve the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs by 44%. By examining three different DSSC designs, it became clear that the efficiency enhancing effect of Zr strongly depends on the proximity of the Zr-doped material to the plasmonic AgNPs.
© 2017 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) 1947-7988/2017/$25.00 © 2017 SPIE
Anastasia Pasche, Bernd Grohe, Silvia Mittler, and Paul A. Charpentier "Zr-doped TiO2 as a thermostabilizer in plasmon-enhanced dye-sensitized solar cells," Journal of Photonics for Energy 7(3), 035504 (23 September 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.7.035504
Received: 30 May 2017; Accepted: 29 August 2017; Published: 23 September 2017
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KEYWORDS
Dye sensitized solar cells

Zirconium

Plasmonics

Electrodes

Energy conversion efficiency

Absorption

Photoactive materials

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