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Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have been extensively studied due to their. promising potential for high efficiency, low production cost and eco-friendly production. The photoanode of DSSC is usually composed of randomly packed TiO₂ nanoparticles. However, high surface charge recombination rate...

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Main Author: Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2016
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TP Chemical technology
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/1/Evaluation%20of%20modified%20nano-siO2tiO2.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/
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spelling my.ums.eprints.175262017-11-20T02:16:12Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/ Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying TP Chemical technology Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have been extensively studied due to their. promising potential for high efficiency, low production cost and eco-friendly production. The photoanode of DSSC is usually composed of randomly packed TiO₂ nanoparticles. However, high surface charge recombination rate of the TiO₂ nanoparticles accounts for its low efficiency. In this research, nanosilica between 20 to 100 nm was synthesized via Stober method and surface modified with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane (GPTS) to produce nanosilica with reduced band gap and increased isoelectric point for photoanode material application. The photoanode was fabricated with the pure nanosilica, modified nanosilica, pure nanosilica/TiO₂ composite and modified nanosilica/TiO₂ composite respectively. Finally, DSSCs was constructed with the photoanode electrode made, N719 dye, iodide redox couple liquid electrolyte and Platinum counter electrode. The synthesized pure nanosilica of 22.9 + 2.5 nm has a band gap of 5.1 eV. The result showed that nanosilica modified with APTES has a lower band gap (Le. 2.7 eV) and higher isoelectric point (Le. pH 8.9) than the pure nanosilica. Nanosilica modified with GPTS however was unsuccessful synthesized. The photoanode with APTES modified nanosilica was sintered at 200 ⁰C (normal sintering temperature is 450 ⁰C) due to its thermal instability at temperature higher than 200 C. DSSC with composite of 10 wt.% of pure nanosilica/ TiO₂ sintered at 450 ⁰C showed the highest efficiency of 4.61 % which was higher than the pure TiOz₂ based DSSC sintered at 450 DC (2.61 %). Mixing of nanosilica increased the total specific surface area of composites for dye adsorption and increases the DSSC efficiency. This study shows that DSSC with composite of 10 wt.% of APTES modified nanosilica/TiO₂ sintered at lower sintering temperature of 200 DC has higher efficiency of 3.33 % compared to DSSC with composite of 10 wt% of pure nanosilica/TiO₂ sintered at 200 ⁰C (1.61 %). This results showed that APTES modified nanosilica was successful in improving DSSC efficiency in a composite material. 2016 Thesis NonPeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/1/Evaluation%20of%20modified%20nano-siO2tiO2.pdf Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying (2016) Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
institution Universiti Malaysia Sabah
building UMS Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sabah
content_source UMS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://eprints.ums.edu.my/
language English
topic TP Chemical technology
spellingShingle TP Chemical technology
Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
description Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have been extensively studied due to their. promising potential for high efficiency, low production cost and eco-friendly production. The photoanode of DSSC is usually composed of randomly packed TiO₂ nanoparticles. However, high surface charge recombination rate of the TiO₂ nanoparticles accounts for its low efficiency. In this research, nanosilica between 20 to 100 nm was synthesized via Stober method and surface modified with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane (GPTS) to produce nanosilica with reduced band gap and increased isoelectric point for photoanode material application. The photoanode was fabricated with the pure nanosilica, modified nanosilica, pure nanosilica/TiO₂ composite and modified nanosilica/TiO₂ composite respectively. Finally, DSSCs was constructed with the photoanode electrode made, N719 dye, iodide redox couple liquid electrolyte and Platinum counter electrode. The synthesized pure nanosilica of 22.9 + 2.5 nm has a band gap of 5.1 eV. The result showed that nanosilica modified with APTES has a lower band gap (Le. 2.7 eV) and higher isoelectric point (Le. pH 8.9) than the pure nanosilica. Nanosilica modified with GPTS however was unsuccessful synthesized. The photoanode with APTES modified nanosilica was sintered at 200 ⁰C (normal sintering temperature is 450 ⁰C) due to its thermal instability at temperature higher than 200 C. DSSC with composite of 10 wt.% of pure nanosilica/ TiO₂ sintered at 450 ⁰C showed the highest efficiency of 4.61 % which was higher than the pure TiOz₂ based DSSC sintered at 450 DC (2.61 %). Mixing of nanosilica increased the total specific surface area of composites for dye adsorption and increases the DSSC efficiency. This study shows that DSSC with composite of 10 wt.% of APTES modified nanosilica/TiO₂ sintered at lower sintering temperature of 200 DC has higher efficiency of 3.33 % compared to DSSC with composite of 10 wt% of pure nanosilica/TiO₂ sintered at 200 ⁰C (1.61 %). This results showed that APTES modified nanosilica was successful in improving DSSC efficiency in a composite material.
format Thesis
author Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
author_facet Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
author_sort Lau, Stephanie Chai Tying
title Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_short Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_full Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_fullStr Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of modified nano-siO2/tiO2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
title_sort evaluation of modified nano-sio2/tio2 as a photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cell
publishDate 2016
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/1/Evaluation%20of%20modified%20nano-siO2tiO2.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/17526/
_version_ 1760229325846609920
score 13.211869

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