Atmospheric-pressure-plasma-jet sintered dual-scale porous TiO 2 using an economically favorable NaCl solution

Autor: Cheng-Che Hsu, I-Chun Cheng, Jian-Zhang Chen, Chun-Ming Hsu, Yao-Jhen Yang, Wei-Yang Liao
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Power Sources. 281:252-257
ISSN: 0378-7753
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.01.160
Popis: We have developed a rapid atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) sintering process for nanoporous TiO 2 containing large cavities (of the order of a few hundreds of nanometers to a few micrometers) using an economically favorable NaCl solution. Screen-printing was used to administer mixed pastes consisting of TiO 2 nanoparticles and NaCl solutions, following which APPJ sintering was conducted. During APPJ-sintering, numerous NaCl crystals precipitated and their sizes (large cavity sizes after DI-water rinsing) increased with the NaCl concentration of the added solution. The dual-scale porous TiO 2 was then used as the photoanode of a DSSC. With an 1-wt% NaCl solution added to the TiO 2 pastes, the efficiency (photocurrent density) increased from 5.89% (11.68 mA/cm 2 ) to 6.57% (12.75 mA/cm 2 ). The efficiency and photocurrent density of DSSC decreased as the NaCl concentration exceeded 1 wt%. Large cavities could enhance light scattering and light trapping, thereby increasing the photocurrent (short-circuit current) and efficiency. The oversized cavity, in turn, reduced the surface area for dye-adsorption (and therefore, the dye-loading) as well as the effective photocurrent transport path, leading to the reduction in the photocurrent and efficiency.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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