Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO 2 crystallisation

Stefan Guldin; Sven Hüttner; Priti Tiwana; M. Christopher Orilall; Burak Ülgüt; Morgan Stefik; Pablo Docampo; Matthias Kolle; Giorgio Divitini; Caterina Ducati; Simon A. T. Redfern; Henry J. Snaith; Ulrich Wiesner; Dominik Eder; Ullrich Steiner

doi:10.1039/c0ee00362j

Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO 2 crystallisation

Stefan Guldin, Sven Hüttner, Priti Tiwana, M. Christopher Orilall, Burak Ülgüt, Morgan Stefik, Pablo Docampo, Matthias Kolle, Giorgio Divitini, Caterina Ducati, Simon A. T. Redfern, Henry J. Snaith, Ulrich Wiesner, Dominik Eder, Ullrich Steiner

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Abstract

Anatase TiO2 is typically a central component in high performance dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs). This study demonstrates the benefits of high temperature synthesised mesoporous titania for the performance of solid-state DSCs. In contrast to earlier methods, the high temperature stability of mesoporous titania is enabled by the self-assembly of the amphiphilic block copolymer polyisoprene-block-polyethylene oxide (PI-b -PEO) which compartmentalises TiO2 crystallisation, preventing the collapse of porosity at temperatures up to 700 °C. The systematic study of the temperature dependence on DSC performance reveals a parameter trade-off: high temperature annealed anatase consisted of larger crystallites and had a higher conductivity, but this came at the expense of a reduced specific surface area. While the reduction in specific surface areas was found to be detrimental for liquid-electrolyte DSC performance, solid-state DSCs benefitted from the increased anatase conductivity and exhibited a performance increase by a factor of three. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	225-233
Number of pages	9
Journal	Energy Environ. Sci.
Volume	4
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/c0ee00362j
State	Published - 2011
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: This work was funded in part by the EPSRC Nanotechnology Grand Challenges Energy grant (EP/F056702/1), and EP/F065884/1, the Department of Energy (DE-FG02 87ER45298) through the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute (CFCI), the National Science Foundation (DMR-0605856), and the Cornell Universiy KAUST Center for Research and Education. SG acknowledges support by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and CD thanks the Royal Society for funding. We thank T. Abraham for help with the XRD measurements, P. Laity for help with SAXS measurements, and P. Muller-Buschbaum for useful discussions.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

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Guldin, S., Hüttner, S., Tiwana, P., Orilall, M. C., Ülgüt, B., Stefik, M., Docampo, P., Kolle, M., Divitini, G., Ducati, C., Redfern, S. A. T., Snaith, H. J., Wiesner, U., Eder, D., & Steiner, U. (2011). Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO 2 crystallisation. Energy Environ. Sci., 4(1), 225-233. https://doi.org/10.1039/c0ee00362j

@article{3647f840643d48bc9a75bcfcc31a8325,

title = "Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO 2 crystallisation",

abstract = "Anatase TiO2 is typically a central component in high performance dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs). This study demonstrates the benefits of high temperature synthesised mesoporous titania for the performance of solid-state DSCs. In contrast to earlier methods, the high temperature stability of mesoporous titania is enabled by the self-assembly of the amphiphilic block copolymer polyisoprene-block-polyethylene oxide (PI-b -PEO) which compartmentalises TiO2 crystallisation, preventing the collapse of porosity at temperatures up to 700 °C. The systematic study of the temperature dependence on DSC performance reveals a parameter trade-off: high temperature annealed anatase consisted of larger crystallites and had a higher conductivity, but this came at the expense of a reduced specific surface area. While the reduction in specific surface areas was found to be detrimental for liquid-electrolyte DSC performance, solid-state DSCs benefitted from the increased anatase conductivity and exhibited a performance increase by a factor of three. {\textcopyright} 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.",

author = "Stefan Guldin and Sven H{\"u}ttner and Priti Tiwana and Orilall, {M. Christopher} and Burak {\"U}lg{\"u}t and Morgan Stefik and Pablo Docampo and Matthias Kolle and Giorgio Divitini and Caterina Ducati and Redfern, {Simon A. T.} and Snaith, {Henry J.} and Ulrich Wiesner and Dominik Eder and Ullrich Steiner",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: This work was funded in part by the EPSRC Nanotechnology Grand Challenges Energy grant (EP/F056702/1), and EP/F065884/1, the Department of Energy (DE-FG02 87ER45298) through the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute (CFCI), the National Science Foundation (DMR-0605856), and the Cornell Universiy KAUST Center for Research and Education. SG acknowledges support by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and CD thanks the Royal Society for funding. We thank T. Abraham for help with the XRD measurements, P. Laity for help with SAXS measurements, and P. Muller-Buschbaum for useful discussions. This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.",

year = "2011",

doi = "10.1039/c0ee00362j",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "4",

pages = "225--233",

journal = "Energy Environ. Sci.",

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Guldin, S, Hüttner, S, Tiwana, P, Orilall, MC, Ülgüt, B, Stefik, M, Docampo, P, Kolle, M, Divitini, G, Ducati, C, Redfern, SAT, Snaith, HJ, Wiesner, U, Eder, D & Steiner, U 2011, 'Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO 2 crystallisation', Energy Environ. Sci., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 225-233. https://doi.org/10.1039/c0ee00362j

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T1 - Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO 2 crystallisation

AU - Guldin, Stefan

AU - Hüttner, Sven

AU - Tiwana, Priti

AU - Orilall, M. Christopher

AU - Ülgüt, Burak

AU - Stefik, Morgan

AU - Docampo, Pablo

AU - Kolle, Matthias

AU - Divitini, Giorgio

AU - Ducati, Caterina

AU - Redfern, Simon A. T.

AU - Snaith, Henry J.

AU - Wiesner, Ulrich

AU - Eder, Dominik

AU - Steiner, Ullrich

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: This work was funded in part by the EPSRC Nanotechnology Grand Challenges Energy grant (EP/F056702/1), and EP/F065884/1, the Department of Energy (DE-FG02 87ER45298) through the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute (CFCI), the National Science Foundation (DMR-0605856), and the Cornell Universiy KAUST Center for Research and Education. SG acknowledges support by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and CD thanks the Royal Society for funding. We thank T. Abraham for help with the XRD measurements, P. Laity for help with SAXS measurements, and P. Muller-Buschbaum for useful discussions. This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - Anatase TiO2 is typically a central component in high performance dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs). This study demonstrates the benefits of high temperature synthesised mesoporous titania for the performance of solid-state DSCs. In contrast to earlier methods, the high temperature stability of mesoporous titania is enabled by the self-assembly of the amphiphilic block copolymer polyisoprene-block-polyethylene oxide (PI-b -PEO) which compartmentalises TiO2 crystallisation, preventing the collapse of porosity at temperatures up to 700 °C. The systematic study of the temperature dependence on DSC performance reveals a parameter trade-off: high temperature annealed anatase consisted of larger crystallites and had a higher conductivity, but this came at the expense of a reduced specific surface area. While the reduction in specific surface areas was found to be detrimental for liquid-electrolyte DSC performance, solid-state DSCs benefitted from the increased anatase conductivity and exhibited a performance increase by a factor of three. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

AB - Anatase TiO2 is typically a central component in high performance dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs). This study demonstrates the benefits of high temperature synthesised mesoporous titania for the performance of solid-state DSCs. In contrast to earlier methods, the high temperature stability of mesoporous titania is enabled by the self-assembly of the amphiphilic block copolymer polyisoprene-block-polyethylene oxide (PI-b -PEO) which compartmentalises TiO2 crystallisation, preventing the collapse of porosity at temperatures up to 700 °C. The systematic study of the temperature dependence on DSC performance reveals a parameter trade-off: high temperature annealed anatase consisted of larger crystallites and had a higher conductivity, but this came at the expense of a reduced specific surface area. While the reduction in specific surface areas was found to be detrimental for liquid-electrolyte DSC performance, solid-state DSCs benefitted from the increased anatase conductivity and exhibited a performance increase by a factor of three. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

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DO - 10.1039/c0ee00362j

M3 - Article

SN - 1754-5692

VL - 4

SP - 225

EP - 233

JO - Energy Environ. Sci.

JF - Energy Environ. Sci.

IS - 1

ER -

Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO 2 crystallisation

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