Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have been extensively studied due to their. promising potential for high efficiency, low production cost and eco-friendly production. The photoanode of DSSC is usually composed of randomly packed TiO₂ nanoparticles. However, high surface charge recombination rate...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/1/Evaluation%20of%20modified%20nano-siO2tiO2.pdf |
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| Summary: | Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have been extensively studied due to their.
promising potential for high efficiency, low production cost and eco-friendly
production. The photoanode of DSSC is usually composed of randomly packed TiO₂
nanoparticles. However, high surface charge recombination rate of the TiO₂
nanoparticles accounts for its low efficiency. In this research, nanosilica between 20
to 100 nm was synthesized via Stober method and surface modified with
aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane (GPTS) to
produce nanosilica with reduced band gap and increased isoelectric point for
photoanode material application. The photoanode was fabricated with the pure
nanosilica, modified nanosilica, pure nanosilica/TiO₂ composite and modified
nanosilica/TiO₂ composite respectively. Finally, DSSCs was constructed with the
photoanode electrode made, N719 dye, iodide redox couple liquid electrolyte and
Platinum counter electrode. The synthesized pure nanosilica of 22.9 + 2.5 nm has a
band gap of 5.1 eV. The result showed that nanosilica modified with APTES has a
lower band gap (Le. 2.7 eV) and higher isoelectric point (Le. pH 8.9) than the pure
nanosilica. Nanosilica modified with GPTS however was unsuccessful synthesized.
The photoanode with APTES modified nanosilica was sintered at 200 ⁰C (normal
sintering temperature is 450 ⁰C) due to its thermal instability at temperature higher
than 200 C. DSSC with composite of 10 wt.% of pure nanosilica/ TiO₂ sintered at
450 ⁰C showed the highest efficiency of 4.61 % which was higher than the pure TiOz₂
based DSSC sintered at 450 DC (2.61 %). Mixing of nanosilica increased the total
specific surface area of composites for dye adsorption and increases the DSSC
efficiency. This study shows that DSSC with composite of 10 wt.% of APTES modified
nanosilica/TiO₂ sintered at lower sintering temperature of 200 DC has higher
efficiency of 3.33 % compared to DSSC with composite of 10 wt% of pure
nanosilica/TiO₂ sintered at 200 ⁰C (1.61 %). This results showed that APTES modified
nanosilica was successful in improving DSSC efficiency in a composite material. |
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