TY - JOUR
T1 - Ultrafast Flame Annealing of TiO2 Paste for Fabricating Dye-Sensitized and Perovskite Solar Cells with Enhanced Efficiency
AU - Kim, Jung Kyu
AU - Chai, Sung Uk
AU - Cho, Yoonjun
AU - Cai, Lili
AU - Kim, Sung June
AU - Park, Sangwook
AU - Park, Jong Hyeok
AU - Zheng, Xiaolin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
PY - 2017/11/13
Y1 - 2017/11/13
N2 - Mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticle (NP) films are broadly used as electrodes in photoelectrochemical cells, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and perovskite solar cells (PSCs). State-of-the-art mesoporous TiO2 NP films for these solar cells are fabricated by annealing TiO2 paste-coated fluorine-doped tin oxide glass in a box furnace at 500 °C for ≈30 min. Here, the use of a nontraditional reactor, i.e., flame, is reported for the high throughput and ultrafast annealing of TiO2 paste (≈1 min). This flame-annealing method, compared to conventional furnace annealing, exhibits three distinct benefits. First, flame removes polymeric binders in the initial TiO2 paste more completely because of its high temperature (≈1000 °C). Second, flame induces strong interconnections between TiO2 nanoparticles without affecting the underlying transparent conducting oxide substrate. Third, the flame-induced carbothermic reduction on the TiO2 surface facilitates charge injection from the dye/perovskite to TiO2. Consequently, when the flame-annealed mesoporous TiO2 film is used to fabricate DSSCs and PSCs, both exhibit enhanced charge transport and higher power conversion efficiencies than those fabricated using furnace-annealed TiO2 films. Finally, when the ultrafast flame-annealing method is combined with a fast dye-coating method to fabricate DSSC devices, its total fabrication time is reduced from over 3 h to ≈10 min.
AB - Mesoporous TiO2 nanoparticle (NP) films are broadly used as electrodes in photoelectrochemical cells, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and perovskite solar cells (PSCs). State-of-the-art mesoporous TiO2 NP films for these solar cells are fabricated by annealing TiO2 paste-coated fluorine-doped tin oxide glass in a box furnace at 500 °C for ≈30 min. Here, the use of a nontraditional reactor, i.e., flame, is reported for the high throughput and ultrafast annealing of TiO2 paste (≈1 min). This flame-annealing method, compared to conventional furnace annealing, exhibits three distinct benefits. First, flame removes polymeric binders in the initial TiO2 paste more completely because of its high temperature (≈1000 °C). Second, flame induces strong interconnections between TiO2 nanoparticles without affecting the underlying transparent conducting oxide substrate. Third, the flame-induced carbothermic reduction on the TiO2 surface facilitates charge injection from the dye/perovskite to TiO2. Consequently, when the flame-annealed mesoporous TiO2 film is used to fabricate DSSCs and PSCs, both exhibit enhanced charge transport and higher power conversion efficiencies than those fabricated using furnace-annealed TiO2 films. Finally, when the ultrafast flame-annealing method is combined with a fast dye-coating method to fabricate DSSC devices, its total fabrication time is reduced from over 3 h to ≈10 min.
KW - TiO photoelectrodes
KW - dye-sensitized solar cells
KW - fast metal oxide sintering
KW - flame annealing
KW - perovskite solar cells
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U2 - 10.1002/smll.201702260
DO - 10.1002/smll.201702260
M3 - Article
C2 - 28940949
AN - SCOPUS:85030179786
SN - 1613-6810
VL - 13
JO - Small
JF - Small
IS - 42
M1 - 1702260
ER -