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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Main Author:	Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English
Published:	2016
Subjects:	TP Chemical technology
Online Access:	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/1/Evaluation%20of%20modified%20nano-siO2tiO2.pdf
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spelling	my-ums-ep.175262017-11-20T02:16:12Z Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell 2016 Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying TP Chemical technology 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. 2016 Thesis https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/ https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/1/Evaluation%20of%20modified%20nano-siO2tiO2.pdf text en public masters Universiti Malaysia Sabah Faculty of Engineering
institution	Universiti Malaysia Sabah
collection	UMS Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	TP Chemical technology
spellingShingle	TP Chemical technology Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
description	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.
format	Thesis
qualification_level	Master's degree
author	Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
author_facet	Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
author_sort	Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
title	Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_short	Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_full	Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_fullStr	Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_full_unstemmed	Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_sort	evaluation of modified nano-sio2/tio2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
granting_institution	Universiti Malaysia Sabah
granting_department	Faculty of Engineering
publishDate	2016
url	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/1/Evaluation%20of%20modified%20nano-siO2tiO2.pdf
_version_	1747836451407527936

Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell

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