Application of nitrogen-doped TiO2 nano-tubes in dye-sensitized solar cells

• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.12.125
• Publication Date: 2016-12-16T08:44:04Z
• Authors: Vy Anh Tran; Trieu Thinh Truong; Thu Anh Pham Phan; Trang Ngoc Nguyen; Tuan Van Huynh; Antonio Agresti; Sara Pescetelli; Tien Khoa Le; Aldo Di Carlo; Torben Lund; So-Nhu Le; Phuong Tuyet Nguyen
• Keywords: Settore ING-INF/01 - ELETTRONICA; 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy

Abstract Our research aimed to improve the overall energy conversion efficiency of DSCs by applying nitrogen-doped TiO 2 nano-tubes ( N -TNT) for the preparation of DSCs photo-anodes. The none-doped TiO 2 nano-tubes (TNTs) were synthesized by alkaline hydrothermal treatment of Degussa P25 TiO 2 particles in 10 M NaOH. The nano-tubes were N -doped by reflux in various concentrations of NH 4 NO 3 . The effects of nitrogen doping on the structure, morphology, and crystallography of N -TNT were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), infrared spectroscopy (IR), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS). DSCs fabricated with doped N -TNT and TNT was characterized by J-V measurements. Results showed that nitrogen doping significantly enhanced the efficiency of N-TNT cells, reaching the optimum value ( η = 7.36%) with 2 M nitrogen dopant, compared to η = 4.75% of TNT cells. The high efficiency of the N -TNT cells was attributed to increased current density due to the reduction of dark current in the DSCs.