10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Aerosol-assisted Synthesis of a Columnar TiO2 Electron Transport Layer for Application in Photovoltaics
ROBIN WHEELUS, Shalinee Kavadiya, Pratim Biswas, Washington University in St. Louis
Abstract Number: 509 Working Group: Materials Synthesis
Abstract With the threat of worsening global climate change and the increase in world-wide energy demand, the need for cheap renewable energy is higher now than ever. Perovskites, since their introduction into this application in 2009, have grown in power conversion efficiency from less than 4% to more than 22% in recent years. As researchers work to counteract perovskite's natural tendency to break down from exposure to air and water, it is important to continue to investigate new possible methods for improving the cell's efficiency. This research aims to enhance cell efficiency by improving the electron transport layer (ETL) of the cell. 1-Dimensional structures have been shown in the past to have superior electron transporting properties because of their minimization of randomness of the electron’s path and straight 1-dimensional transport from perovskite absorber layer to the charge collector electrode. These structures have been created from a wide variety of methods in many shapes and sizes. Our approach is to use an aerosol technique known as Aerosol Chemical Vapor Deposition (ACVD), through which we can obtain a single-crystalline, 1D, TiO2 columns [1]. Due to the 1-Dimensional transport of the electron, height of the TiO2 column effect the power conversion efficiency. Optimum column height is required for high efficiency, tall enough to propagate through most of the perovskite layer, but small enough to prevent electron-hole recombination. The focus of this work is to study the effect of height of these nanostructures, ranging from a flat ETL to roughly 1.5µm, on the power conversion efficiency. This comparison offers insight in determining the optimum column dimensions for high perovskite solar cell power conversion efficiency using ACVD.
References: 1. An et al., “Aerosol-Chemical Vapor Deposition Method For Synthesis of Nanostructured Metal Oxide Thin Films With Controlled Morphology” J. Phys. Chem. Letters, 1(1), 249-253, 2010.