Hollow hemispherical titanium dioxide (TiO2) aggregates (HHTAs) consisting of P25 TiO2 nanocrystallites were prepared by a coaxial electrospray method and applied to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Although the photoelectrode film constructed with HHTAs possesses an internal surface area lower than that of one with dispersed P25 TiO2 nanocrystallites and thus achieves less dye adsorption, it may generate effective light scattering, which would significantly extend the traveling distance of light within the photoelectrode film and therefore enhance the light-harvesting efficiency, leading to higher power-conversion efficiency (PCE). A bilayer photoelectrode film that consists of HHTAs as the top layer and P25 nanocrystallites as the base layer was also prepared for DSCs. This bilayer structure combines the merits of HHTAs for light scattering and nanocrystallites for sufficient surface area for dye adsorption and, accordingly, results in higher PCE than that of P25 nanocrystallites and HHTAs. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that the photoexcited electrons transporting in the HHTA photoelectrode suffer less recombination than that in the P25 nanocrystallite photoelectrode, due mainly to lower specific surface area in the HHTA photoelectrode exposed to electrolyte, which contains oxidized species.
Nanostructured TiO2 thin films are found to be highly responsive to trace vapors of common nitro-explosives at room
temperature. Thin films of TiO2 nanowires, made with high yield hydrothermal synthesis, present very reliable sensing
characteristics to nitro-aromatic molecules with high sensitivity and fast response at ambient condition. The detection
limit of 2, 4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) vapor at room temperature could reach up to 3ppb. The experimental results indicate
titania nanowires as a novel chemical sensor to explosive gas have a great commercial potential due to its unique
advantages: high sensitivity, rapid response and recovery, small size suitable for intergration with microelectronics and
low fabrication cost. Experimental results and a theoretical model are presented.
Oxide nanocrystallite aggregates are candidates for use in dye-sensitized solar cells. The aggregates are of submicron size, formed by nano-sized crystallites and, therefore, able to offer both a large specific surface area and desirable size comparable to the wavelength of light. While used for a photoelectrode in a dye-sensitized solar cell, the aggregates can be designed to generate effective light scattering and thus extend the traveling distance of light within the photoelectrode film. This would result in an enhancement in the light harvesting efficiency of the photoelectrode and thus an improvement in the power conversion efficiency of the cell. When this notion was applied to dye-sensitized ZnO solar cells, a more than 120% increase in the conversion efficiency was observed with photoelectrode film consisting of ZnO aggregates compared with that comprised of nanocrystallites only. In the case of TiO2, the photoelectrode film that was formed by TiO2 aggregates presented conversion efficiency much lower than that obtained for nanocrystalline film. This may be attributed to the non-ideal porosity of the TiO2 aggregates and the unsuitable facets of the nanocrystallites that form to the aggregates. However, a 21% improvement in the conversion efficiency was still observed for the TiO2 films including nanocrystallites mixed with 50% aggregates, indicating the effectiveness of the TiO2 aggregates as light scatterers in dye-sensitized solar cells. Optimization of the structure and the surface chemistry of TiO2 aggregates, aiming to yield more significant improvement in the conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells, is necessary.
We prepared of electrodes that consist of TiO2 with addition of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) or fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) nanoparticles and the application of such electrodes on dye-sensitized solar cell. As compared to TiO2 alone, the addition of ITO and FTO nanoparticles resulted in an efficiency improvement of ~20% up to ~54% for the TiO2-ITO and TiO2-FTO systems, respectively. This improvement was partly attributed to a slightly enhanced dye-adsorption behavior and a change in the TiO2 surface chemistry due to the presence of ITO or FTO nanoparticles.
The development of photon devices requires the materials with high optical response speed. A type of composite thin films composed of nano-scale Ag particles and barium oxide medium was fabricated. There were two methods in the formation of the thin films: single metallic layer method and triple metallic layer method. The thickness of the thin films in different formation methods was approximately 150 nm or 300 nm, while, Ag particles had an average diameter of 20 nm or 15 nm. A pump-probe method was used for measuring the transient change of optical transmissivity of thin films which were stimulated by ultrashort laser pulses of duration 150 fs and wavelength 647 nm. The Ag-BaO thin films presented that the transmissivity increased rapidly.
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