Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells

Mg Ni mixed metal oxide photocathodes have been prepared by a mixed NiCl2/MgCl2 sol-gel process. The MgO/NiO electrodes have been extensively characterized using physical and electrochemical methods. Dye-sensitized solar cells have been prepared from these films and the higher concentrations of MgO...

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Main Authors: Zannotti, Marco, Wood, Christopher J., Summers, Gareth H., Stevens, Lee A., Hall, Matthew R., Snape, Colin E., Giovannetti, Rita, Gibson, Elizabeth A.
Format: Article
Published: American Chemical Society 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34661/
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author Zannotti, Marco
Wood, Christopher J.
Summers, Gareth H.
Stevens, Lee A.
Hall, Matthew R.
Snape, Colin E.
Giovannetti, Rita
Gibson, Elizabeth A.
author_facet Zannotti, Marco
Wood, Christopher J.
Summers, Gareth H.
Stevens, Lee A.
Hall, Matthew R.
Snape, Colin E.
Giovannetti, Rita
Gibson, Elizabeth A.
author_sort Zannotti, Marco
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Mg Ni mixed metal oxide photocathodes have been prepared by a mixed NiCl2/MgCl2 sol-gel process. The MgO/NiO electrodes have been extensively characterized using physical and electrochemical methods. Dye-sensitized solar cells have been prepared from these films and the higher concentrations of MgO improved the photovoltage of these devices, however, there was a notable drop in photocurrent with increasing Mg2+. Charge extraction and XPS experiments revealed that the cause of this was a positive shift in the energy of the valence band which decreased the driving force for electron transfer from the NiO film to the dye and therefore the photocurrent. In addition, increasing concentrations of MgO increases the volume of pores between 0.500 to 0.050 μm, while reducing pore volumes in the mesopore range (less than 0.050 μm) and lowering BET surface area from approximately 41 down to 30 m2 g-1. A MgO concentration of 5% was found to strike a balance between the increased photovoltage and decreased photocurrent, possessing a BET surface area of 35 m2 g-1 and a large pore volume in both the meso and macropore range, which lead to a higher overall power conversion efficiency than NiO alone.
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spelling nottingham-346612020-05-04T17:19:36Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34661/ Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells Zannotti, Marco Wood, Christopher J. Summers, Gareth H. Stevens, Lee A. Hall, Matthew R. Snape, Colin E. Giovannetti, Rita Gibson, Elizabeth A. Mg Ni mixed metal oxide photocathodes have been prepared by a mixed NiCl2/MgCl2 sol-gel process. The MgO/NiO electrodes have been extensively characterized using physical and electrochemical methods. Dye-sensitized solar cells have been prepared from these films and the higher concentrations of MgO improved the photovoltage of these devices, however, there was a notable drop in photocurrent with increasing Mg2+. Charge extraction and XPS experiments revealed that the cause of this was a positive shift in the energy of the valence band which decreased the driving force for electron transfer from the NiO film to the dye and therefore the photocurrent. In addition, increasing concentrations of MgO increases the volume of pores between 0.500 to 0.050 μm, while reducing pore volumes in the mesopore range (less than 0.050 μm) and lowering BET surface area from approximately 41 down to 30 m2 g-1. A MgO concentration of 5% was found to strike a balance between the increased photovoltage and decreased photocurrent, possessing a BET surface area of 35 m2 g-1 and a large pore volume in both the meso and macropore range, which lead to a higher overall power conversion efficiency than NiO alone. American Chemical Society 2015-10-15 Article PeerReviewed Zannotti, Marco, Wood, Christopher J., Summers, Gareth H., Stevens, Lee A., Hall, Matthew R., Snape, Colin E., Giovannetti, Rita and Gibson, Elizabeth A. (2015) Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 7 (44). pp. 24556-24565. ISSN 1944-8252 Dye-sensitized solar cells nickel oxide p-type photocathode artificial photosynthesis http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.5b06170 doi:10.1021/acsami.5b06170 doi:10.1021/acsami.5b06170
spellingShingle Dye-sensitized solar cells
nickel oxide
p-type
photocathode
artificial photosynthesis
Zannotti, Marco
Wood, Christopher J.
Summers, Gareth H.
Stevens, Lee A.
Hall, Matthew R.
Snape, Colin E.
Giovannetti, Rita
Gibson, Elizabeth A.
Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells
title Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells
title_full Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells
title_fullStr Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells
title_full_unstemmed Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells
title_short Ni Mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells
title_sort ni mg mixed metal oxides for p-type dye-sensitized solar cells
topic Dye-sensitized solar cells
nickel oxide
p-type
photocathode
artificial photosynthesis
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34661/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34661/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34661/