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Room Temperature Synthesis of Highly Compact TiO2 Coatings by Vacuum Kinetic Spraying to Serve as a Blocking Layer in Polymer Electrolyte-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Journal of Thermal Spray Technology volume 24, pages 328–337 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Vacuum kinetic spraying (VKS) was used to form a blocking layer (BL) in order to increase the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells. Nano-sized TiO2 powders were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass while varying the coating parameters including the mass flow, substrate transverse speed, and number of coating passes in order to control the thickness of the BL. Compared to the cell without a BL, the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density of the solar cell with a VKS-coated BL were noticeably improved. Consequently, the photoconversion efficiency increased up to 5.6%, which is significantly higher than that of a spin-coated BL.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by a Grant from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MEST) (NRF-2014R1A2A2A05007633).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kinetic Spray Coating Laboratory, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 133-791, Republic of Korea

    Jeeae Heo, Hyungkwon Park & Changhee Lee

  2. Department of Energy Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 133-791, Republic of Korea

    P. Sudhagar, Woohyung Cho & Yong Soo Kang

Authors
  1. Jeeae Heo
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Correspondence to Changhee Lee.

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Heo, J., Sudhagar, P., Park, H. et al. Room Temperature Synthesis of Highly Compact TiO2 Coatings by Vacuum Kinetic Spraying to Serve as a Blocking Layer in Polymer Electrolyte-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. J Therm Spray Tech 24, 328–337 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-014-0204-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-014-0204-0

Keywords

  • ceramics
  • oxide materials
  • solid state reactions
  • thin films
  • photoconductivity
  • photovoltaics
  • vacuum kinetic spray