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Limits of ZnO Electrodeposition in Mesoporous Tin Doped Indium Oxide Films in View of Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Well-ordered 3D mesoporous indium tin oxide (ITO) films obtained by a templated sol-gel route are discussed as conductive porous current collectors. This paper explores the use of such films modified by electrochemical deposition of zinc oxide (ZnO) on the pore walls to improve the electron transpor...

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Autores principales: Dunkel, Christian, von Graberg, Till, Smarsly, Bernd M., Oekermann, Torsten, Wark, Michael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5453342/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28788618
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma7043291
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author Dunkel, Christian
von Graberg, Till
Smarsly, Bernd M.
Oekermann, Torsten
Wark, Michael
author_facet Dunkel, Christian
von Graberg, Till
Smarsly, Bernd M.
Oekermann, Torsten
Wark, Michael
author_sort Dunkel, Christian
collection PubMed
description Well-ordered 3D mesoporous indium tin oxide (ITO) films obtained by a templated sol-gel route are discussed as conductive porous current collectors. This paper explores the use of such films modified by electrochemical deposition of zinc oxide (ZnO) on the pore walls to improve the electron transport in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Mesoporous ITO film were dip-coated with pore sizes of 20–25 nm and 40–45 nm employing novel poly(isobutylene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) block copolymers as structure-directors. After electrochemical deposition of ZnO and sensitization with the indoline dye D149 the films were tested as photoanodes in DSSCs. Short ZnO deposition times led to strong back reaction of photogenerated electrons from non-covered ITO to the electrolyte. ITO films with larger pores enabled longer ZnO deposition times before pore blocking occurred, resulting in higher efficiencies, which could be further increased by using thicker ITO films consisting of five layers, but were still lower compared to nanoporous ZnO films electrodeposited on flat ITO. The major factors that currently limit the application are the still low thickness of the mesoporous ITO films, too small pore sizes and non-ideal geometries that do not allow obtaining full coverage of the ITO surface with ZnO before pore blocking occurs.
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spelling pubmed-54533422017-07-28 Limits of ZnO Electrodeposition in Mesoporous Tin Doped Indium Oxide Films in View of Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Dunkel, Christian von Graberg, Till Smarsly, Bernd M. Oekermann, Torsten Wark, Michael Materials (Basel) Article Well-ordered 3D mesoporous indium tin oxide (ITO) films obtained by a templated sol-gel route are discussed as conductive porous current collectors. This paper explores the use of such films modified by electrochemical deposition of zinc oxide (ZnO) on the pore walls to improve the electron transport in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Mesoporous ITO film were dip-coated with pore sizes of 20–25 nm and 40–45 nm employing novel poly(isobutylene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) block copolymers as structure-directors. After electrochemical deposition of ZnO and sensitization with the indoline dye D149 the films were tested as photoanodes in DSSCs. Short ZnO deposition times led to strong back reaction of photogenerated electrons from non-covered ITO to the electrolyte. ITO films with larger pores enabled longer ZnO deposition times before pore blocking occurred, resulting in higher efficiencies, which could be further increased by using thicker ITO films consisting of five layers, but were still lower compared to nanoporous ZnO films electrodeposited on flat ITO. The major factors that currently limit the application are the still low thickness of the mesoporous ITO films, too small pore sizes and non-ideal geometries that do not allow obtaining full coverage of the ITO surface with ZnO before pore blocking occurs. MDPI 2014-04-23 /pmc/articles/PMC5453342/ /pubmed/28788618 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma7043291 Text en © 2014 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Dunkel, Christian
von Graberg, Till
Smarsly, Bernd M.
Oekermann, Torsten
Wark, Michael
Limits of ZnO Electrodeposition in Mesoporous Tin Doped Indium Oxide Films in View of Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
title Limits of ZnO Electrodeposition in Mesoporous Tin Doped Indium Oxide Films in View of Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
title_full Limits of ZnO Electrodeposition in Mesoporous Tin Doped Indium Oxide Films in View of Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
title_fullStr Limits of ZnO Electrodeposition in Mesoporous Tin Doped Indium Oxide Films in View of Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
title_full_unstemmed Limits of ZnO Electrodeposition in Mesoporous Tin Doped Indium Oxide Films in View of Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
title_short Limits of ZnO Electrodeposition in Mesoporous Tin Doped Indium Oxide Films in View of Application in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
title_sort limits of zno electrodeposition in mesoporous tin doped indium oxide films in view of application in dye-sensitized solar cells
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5453342/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28788618
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma7043291
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