A new strategy on utilizing nitrogen doped TiO2 in nanostructured solar cells: Embedded multifunctional N-TiO2 scattering particles in mesoporous photoanode

• N-doped TiO2 scattering particles were synthesized for embedding into commercial photoanode of dye sensitized solar cells.
• Embedded scatterers improved optical and electrical features of the cells.
• These multifunctional scatterers increased cell performance up to 17%.

Aggregated sub-micron size nitrogen doped TiO2 (N-TiO2) particles with superior optical and electrical features were successfully synthesized for embedding into commercial mesoporous TiO2 photoelectrode of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as the light scattering particles compared to undoped one. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and absorption spectra confirmed that the titanium dioxide is sufficiently doped by nitrogen in N-TiO2 sample. Employing these high-surface N-TiO2 in mesoporous photoelectrode of solar cells, the power conversion efficiency of 8% has been achieved which shows 17% improvement for the optimum embedded level of doping (30 wt%) compared to commercial photoelectrode without additive; while enhanced efficiency is only 3% embedding undoped sub-micron size TiO2 particles. These results can introduce the novel multifunctional photoelectrode for nanostructured solar cells with enhanced values of scattering efficiency and improved electrical features including trap states density reduction in comparison to commercial mesoporous photoelectrodes.

Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide