The introduction of novel hierarchical blocking layer (BL) between conductive fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and nanocrystalline TiO2 plays a pivotal role for efficiency enhancement in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Herein, we investigate the performance of DSSCs incorporating the TiO2 (T), TiO2/AZO (TA) and TiO2/AZO/TiO2 (TAT) BLs underneath the mesoporous TiO2 layer. The systematic characterizations demonstrate that the existence of the TAT layer not only serves as a BL but also functions as an auxiliary FTO layer. As a BL, the TAT layer reduces the charge recombination from FTO to electrolyte by improving the recombination resistance. Moreover, as an auxiliary FTO layer, the TAT layer enhances the interconnection between the mesoporous TiO2 layer and FTO by forming an ohmic contact. Due to the enhanced charge transfer and collection characteristics of the TAT layer, the overall energy conversion efficiency of the DSSC with the TAT layer was boosted by 40.0% in comparison to that of the DSSC with the T BL. The findings demonstrate that TAT is a promising alternative to the conventional TiO2 BL in highly efficient DSSCs.
Cite it:
Ozel, K., Atilgan, A., & Yildiz, A. (2024). Multi-layered blocking layers for dye sensitized solar cells. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, 448, 115297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotochem.2023.115297