| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Energy Frontiers Topical Conference | Thursday Sessions |
| Session EN+NS-ThM |
| Session: | Nanostructures for Energy Conversion & Storage II |
| Presenter: | A. Yanguas-Gil, Argonne National Laboratory |
| Authors: | A. Yanguas-Gil, Argonne National Laboratory J.W. Elam, Argonne National Laboratory V.O. Williams, Northwestern University M. Mushfiq, Innosense LLC D.M. Hess, Innosense LLC R. Winter, Innosense LLC U. Sampathkumaran, Innosense LLC M.J. Pellin, Argonne National Laboratory J.T. Hupp, Northwestern University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The combination of sol/gel processing techniques with Atomic Layer Deposition is a versatile and scalable route to fabricate nanostructured electrodes with different functional materials. By controlling the sol/gel process is it possible to create scaffolds with very different microstructures and pore-size distributions, while ALD allows a layer-by-layer control of the electrode composition. One of the main advantages of this approach is the possibility of creating nanostructured electrodes with multiple functional coatings that lead to a faster transport of the injected electrons to the transparent conducting oxide, [1, 2] thus paving the way for the use of alternative redox shuttles that would allow higher photovoltages and higher efficiencies.
In this work we present results on the influence that the sol/gel process and the ALD steps have on the microstructure and transport properties of the photoanodes, and the optical properties and efficiency of the cells. In particular, we have studied the influence of the aging and drying steps in the aerogel/xerogel growth, and we have compared the performance of TiCl4 and Ti(OiPr)4 as precursors during the ALD step. Our results show that aerogel-templated nanostructured electrodes are a promising alternative to nanoparticle-based photoanodes for dye sensitized solar cells. Our work is funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Industrial Technologies Program.
[1] A. B. F. Martinson, J. W. Elam, M. J. Pellin and J. T. Hupp, Nano Lett. 7, 2183 (2007).
[2] T. W. Hamann, A. B. F. Martinson, J. W. Elam, M. J. Pellin and J. T. Hupp, J Phys. Chem. C 112, 10303 (2008).