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Highly porous film of TiO2 nanoparticles synthesized using carbon nanospheres for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

Highly porous films of TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by a doctor blade method using carbon nanospheres as a porosity enhancer. At first, carbon nanospheres with a diameter ranging from 100 to 600 nm were synthesized by a hydrothermal method; then, a paste of TiO2 nanoparticles was mixed with various amounts of carbon nanospheres. To obtain a porous TiO2 nanoparticles photoanode and removing carbon nanospheres, photoanode was sintered at a temperature of 500 °C. XRD patterns and Raman analysis revealed the anatase phase of TiO2 and show that the carbon spheres acted only as a porosity enhancer. Removing carbon nanospheres leads to the creation of cavities with various sizes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Under illumination, these random cavities increase porosity and light scattering of the photoanode which leads to a larger surface area for dye loading and improve light absorbance by dye N719 and consequently enhance the performance of DSSCs. For the optimum sample by mixing 3 wt% carbon nanospheres in the TiO2 pastes, the efficiency (η) and short-circuit current density (Jsc) were increased by 33% (from 5.72 to 7.59%) and 40% (from 12.59 to 17.73 mA cm−2), respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Research Council of the Tarbiat Modares University for financial supports. It is a pleasure to thank Sh. Dadgostar and F. Tajabadi for stimulating discussions. We also thank R. Mohammadpour and R. Ghahari for helpful hints. We are indebted to M. Samadpour for useful comments about EIS analysis. We are grateful to R. Poursalehi for reading the initial version of the manuscript and making useful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 14115-175, Tehran, Iran

    Amir Bayat, Esmaiel Saievar-Iranizad, Elham Bayatloo, Ali Arabkhorasani & Sajad Saghaye Polkoo

  2. Department of Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 14155-4838, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Zare

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  1. Amir Bayat
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  2. Esmaiel Saievar-Iranizad
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  3. Elham Bayatloo
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  4. Ali Zare
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Correspondence to Esmaiel Saievar-Iranizad.

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Bayat, A., Saievar-Iranizad, E., Bayatloo, E. et al. Highly porous film of TiO2 nanoparticles synthesized using carbon nanospheres for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 135, 195 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-00241-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-00241-x

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