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Micro-scale hierarchical photoanode for quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells based on TiO2 nanowires

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Abstract

This paper proposed a new architecture design for nanowire-based quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells to improve the photovoltaic performance. Microstructured rough substrate was used to increase the surface area of the photoanode without influence on charge carrier transport in the system. Compared to conventional devices, the short circuit current density and power conversion efficiency were enhanced by 50%. And the technology can be widely used in the photoelectrochemical (PEC) field, and it can be combined with other hierarchical nanostructures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Heng Li, Wei Jing, Dapeng Yu & Qing Zhao

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100084, China

    Heng Li, Wei Jing, Dapeng Yu & Qing Zhao

Authors
  1. Heng Li
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  2. Wei Jing
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  3. Dapeng Yu
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  4. Qing Zhao
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Dapeng Yu or Qing Zhao.

Additional information

Heng Li is a Ph.D. candidate of School of Physics at Peking University under the direction of Prof. Dapeng Yu and Prof. Qing Zhao. He received his B.S. degree (2011) in School of Physics from Peking University. He joined Prof. Yu’s group in summer 2011, and he is especially interested in new energy devices such as photovoltaic and energy storage devices.

Jing Wei is a Ph.D. candidate of School of Physics at Peking University under the direction of Prof. Dapeng Yu and Prof. Qing Zhao. She received her B.S. degree (2012) in School of Microelectronics and Solid- State Electronics from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. She joined Prof. Yu’s group in summer 2012, and she is especially interested in new energy devices such as perovskite solar cells.

Dapeng Yu is a Chang Kung professorship in physics in School of Physics, Peking University. He received his Ph.D. degree (1993) in Laboratoire de Physicque des Solides, Université Paris-sud, Orsay, France, and then joined Department of Physics, Peking University in 1995. His current interests are 1-D semiconductor nanowires, transport in low-D materials, and single DNA detection/sequencing via solid state nanopore microscope.

Qing Zhao got her Ph.D. degree in physics from School of Physics, Peking University. Then she spent three years in University of Washington as a postdoc. She joined School of Physics, Peking University in 2009. Her research area is energy materials and devices in low dimensional, including perovskite solar cells and supercapacitors. The present work proposed a new architecture design for nanowire-based quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells to improve the photovoltaic performance. Microstructured rough substrate was used to increase the surface area of the photoanode without influence on charge carrier transport in the system.

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Li, H., Jing, W., Yu, D. et al. Micro-scale hierarchical photoanode for quantum-dot-sensitized solar cells based on TiO2 nanowires. Front. Optoelectron. 9, 53–59 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-016-0565-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-016-0565-8

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