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Interfaces in Dye-Sensitized Oxide / Hole-Conductor Heterojunctions for Solar Cell Applications

<p>Nanoporous dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) are promising devices for solar to electric energy conversion. In this thesis photoelectron spectroscopy (PES), x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and photovoltaic measurements are used for studies of the key interfaces in the DSSC. </p><p>Photovoltaic properties of new combinations of TiO<sub>2</sub>/dye/hole-conductor heterojunctions were demonstrated and their interfacial structures were studied. Three different types of hole-conductor materials were investigated: Triarylamine derivatives, a conducting polymer and CuI. The difference in photocurrent and photovoltage properties of the heterojunction due to small changes in the hole-conductor material was followed. Also a series of dye molecules were used to measure the influence of the dye on the photovoltaic properties. Differences in both the energy-level matching and the geometric structure of the interfaces in the different heterojunctions were studied by PES. This combination of photovoltaic and PES measurements shows the possibility to link the interfacial electronic and molecular structure to the functional properties of the device. </p><p>Three effective dyes used in the DSSC, Ru(dcbpy)<sub>2</sub>(NCS)<sub>2</sub>, Ru(tcterpy)(NCS)<sub>3</sub> and an organic dye were studied in detail using PES and XAS and resonant core hole decay spectroscopy. The results gave information of the frontier electronic structure of the dyes and how the dyes are bonded to the TiO<sub>2</sub> surface. </p><p>Finally, the hole-conductor mechanism in a conducting polymer was investigated theoretically using semi-empirical and ab-initio methods. </p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:uu-6892
Date January 2006
CreatorsJohansson, Erik
PublisherUppsala University, Electron spectroscopy and molecular surface physics, Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDoctoral thesis, comprehensive summary, text
RelationDigital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology, 1651-6214 ; 188

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