Zr-doped TiO2 as a thermostabilizer in plasmon-enhanced dye-sensitized solar cells

Anastasia Pasche; Bernd Grohe; Silvia Mittler; Paul A. Charpentier

doi:10.1117/1.JPE.7.035504

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 +

Funded by: NSERC Strategic and Discovery Programs

Journal of Photonics for Energy, Vol. 7, Issue 3, 035504 (September 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.7.035504

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.

Citation Download Citation

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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