| AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Thin Film | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session TF+AS+NS+SE-WeA |
| Session: | Beam and Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) Techniques |
| Presenter: | W. Alayashi, Queen's University, Canada |
| Authors: | W. Alayashi, Queen's University, Canada K. Robbie, Queen's University, Canada |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The nanostructured metal oxide layer, typically TiO2, that is part of the conductive electrode (anode) is the most puzzling component of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs). While the sponge-like morphology of the sintered-powder electrode improves efficiency by providing a high surface area scaffold for adsorption of light-absorbing dye molecules, the convoluted transport paths for photo-generated charge carriers ultimately limit achievable efficiency. Its morphology has been identified as an important efficiency-limiting aspect of TiO2 films. A DSSC is composed of a conductive electrode (anode), a nanoporous metal oxide film such as TiO2, an organic sensitizing dye, a redox electrolyte, and a cathode electrode. Behaviour of the porous anode is strongly influenced by several factors: the open structure of the electrode that permits electrolyte penetration through the entire electrode, the small size of the individual colloidal particles that prevents accumulation of a large space charge, and the low intrinsic conductivity of TiO2. I will present a demonstration of a new type of DSSC nanostructured oxide layer based on a fractal structure (branched tree-like morphology) for the metal oxide anode, and the effect of this morphology on electron transport and thus the overall efficiency of DSSC. Different thicknesses of the tree-like morphology films are fabricated to find their influence on photovoltaic performance. The result includes a comparison of the DSSCs efficiencies that are made by Glancing angle deposition technique, conventional nanoparticulated DSSC s and highly ordered nanotube arrays.