Electrospun Nanofiber Mats with Embedded Non-Sintered TiO<sub>2</sub> for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs)
2019
Al Mamun | Marah Trabelsi | Michaela Klöcker | Lilia Sabantina | Christina Großerhode | Tomasz Blachowicz | Georg Grötsch | Carsten Cornelißen | Almuth Streitenberger | Andrea Ehrmann
TiO<sub>2</sub> is a semiconductor that is commonly used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). However, the necessity of sintering the TiO<sub>2</sub> layer is usually problematic due to the desired temperatures of typically 500 °C in cells that are prepared on polymeric or textile electrodes. This is why textile-based DSSCs often use metal fibers or metallic woven fabrics as front electrodes on which the TiO<sub>2</sub> is coated. Alternatively, several research groups investigate the possibilities to reduce the necessary sintering temperatures by chemical or other pre-treatments of the TiO<sub>2</sub>. Here, we report on a simple method to avoid the sintering step by using a nanofiber mat as a matrix embedding TiO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticles. The TiO<sub>2</sub> layer can be dyed with natural dyes, resulting in a similar bathochromic shift of the UV/Vis spectrum, as it is known from sintered TiO<sub>2</sub> on glass substrates, which indicates an equivalent chemical bonding. Our results indicate a new possibility for producing textile-based DSSCs with TiO<sub>2</sub>, even on textile fabrics that are not high-temperature resistant.
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