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Impedance investigation of TiO2 nanotubes/nanoparticles-based dye-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

In this work, we studied the influence of TiO2 morphology on photovoltaic performances, electron transport and charge recombination properties of nanotubes/nanoparticle-based dye-sensitized solar cells. Nanotubes and nanoparticles nanostructures have been synthetized by hydrothermal and sol–gel methods, and then characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopies. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results have shown that the recombination process becomes less significant when nanotubes amount decreases in the cells induced by the low recombination site concentration due to the small surface area of nanotubes regarding to nanoparticles. However, despite the low recombination rate, a drastic decrease of lifetime has been observed indicating a very low charge transport due to the poor interconnectivity of randomly dispersed TiO2 nanotubes in the high nanotubes content cells. Proper content of 10–20% nanotubes pile up effectively with nanoparticles favoring a good connection between the grains, and thus facilitating the charge transport in TiO2 network.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the financial support of the National Research Fund of the Directorate-General for Scientific Research and Technological Development (Algeria).

Funding

This research was supported by the National Research Fund of the Directorate-General for Scientific Research and Technological Development (Algeria).

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Author notes

  1. Khaled Hamdani, Samia Belhousse, Fatma Zohra Tighilt & Kahina Lasmi

    Present address: Division Couches Minces Surfaces & Interfaces CMSI, Centre de Recherche en Technologie des Semi-Conducteurs Pour l’Energétique CRTSE, Algiers, Algeria

  2. Denis Chaumont

    Present address: NANOFORM Group, ICB, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division Couches Minces Surfaces & Interfaces CMSI, Centre de Recherche en Technologie des Semi-Conducteurs Pour l’Energétique CRTSE, Algiers, Algeria

    Sabrina Sam

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  1. Khaled Hamdani
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  2. Samia Belhousse
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  4. Kahina Lasmi
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Correspondence to Sabrina Sam.

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Hamdani, K., Belhousse, S., Tighilt, F. et al. Impedance investigation of TiO2 nanotubes/nanoparticles-based dye-sensitized solar cells. Journal of Materials Research 37, 500–508 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-021-00464-3

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