Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2014)
    Energy Harvesting & Storage Tuesday Sessions
       Session EH-TuP

Paper EH-TuP15
SnO2 Hollow Spheres with Core-Shell Nanostructures of TiO2 Nanosheets for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Tuesday, December 9, 2014, 4:00 pm, Room Mauka

Session: Energy Harvesting & Storage Poster Session
Presenter: Jong Hak Kim, Yonsei University, Korea
Authors: J.Y. Lim, Yonsei University, Korea
S.H. Ahn, Yonsei University, Korea
C.H. Park, Yonsei University, Korea
J.H. Kim, Yonsei University, Korea
Correspondent: Click to Email
In this study, SnO2 hollow spheres were synthesized using sulfonated polystyrene (PS) as template. After sintering at 450oC for removing PS, SnO2 hollow spheres were dispersed in isopropyl alcohol with amounts of titanium isopropoxide and diethyltrilamine followed by transferring to Teflon-lined autoclave. The mixture was heated to 200 oC and maintained for 24 hour, centrifuged, and calcined to obtain a highly crystalline phase. These preformed SnO2 hollow spheres with core-shell nanostructures of TiO2 nanosheets were mixed with sol-gel solution of graft copolymer PVC-g-POEM for preparing photoanode of DSSC. The solution was deposited on FTO glasses by doctor-blade method. These core-shell nanostructures were uniformly distributed in the TiO2 film with large pores, high porosity, and good inter-connectivity due to its relatively low density resulting from high porosity and empty voids inside the shell. Nanostructures of SnO2 hollow spheres with core-shell nanostructures of TiO 2 nanosheets provide good pore-filling for solid polymer electrolytes, faster electron transfer, and enhanced light scattering, as confirmed by reflectance spectroscopy, incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE), and intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS) / intensity-modulated photo voltage spectroscopy (IMVS). DSSC with this material shows a high-energy conversion efficiency of 8.2% at 100 mWcm-2. This is one of highest values for N719-based, solid-state, dye-sensitized solar cells.