Fabrication of flexible self-powered humidity sensor based on super-hydrophilic titanium oxide nanotube arrays

Stable and flexible super-hydrophilic nanotubular-based titanium oxide electrode has been utilized as the active electrode of self-powered humidity sensor. TiO₂ nanotubular electrodes fabricated through anodization method and utilized in combination with Kapton electrode as the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Vertical contact-separation mode TENG performance has been examined in various range of frequencies and the maximum output voltage and current more than 300 V and 40 μA respectively with maximum power of 1.25 ± 0.67 mW has been achieved at 4 Hz. The fabricated TENG has been employed as the active self-powered humidity sensor. Super-hydrophilic feature of TiO₂ nanotubes resulted in full absorption of water molecules, and noticeable decrease in charge transfer across two triboelectric materials upon increasing humidity. The TiO₂-based TENG sensor was exposed to various relative humidity (RH) and the results showed that by increasing the humidity the output voltage and output current decreased from 162.24 ± 35.99 V and 20.4 ± 4.93 μA at RH = 20% to 37.92 ± 1.54 V at RH = 79% and 40.87 88 6.88 ± 1.7 μA at RH = 84%, respectively, Which shows the responsivity more than 300%. This method of measuring humidity has a simple and cost-effective fabrication that has various applications in many fields such as industry and medicine.

New insights into electrolyte-component biased and transfer- and transport-limited charge recombination in dye-sensitized solar cells

Charge recombination takes place, respectively, within the frameworks of transfer- and transport-limited recombination mechanisms, at low and high electron density.

Flexible, transferable, and thermal-durable dye-sensitized solar cell photoanode consisting of TiO₂ nanoparticles and electrospun TiO₂/SiO₂ nanofibers

Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) often face the dilemma of the high temperature sintering of TiO2 photoanode to achieve superior performance and low thermal durability of the flexible substrate. Herein, we report a photoanode that combines the flexibility and high-temperature durability, which circumvents the long-standing challenge in flexible photoanode of DSSC. A hybrid mat consisting of anatase-phased TiO2 nanofibers and structurally amorphous SiO2 nanofibers is first prepared via the method of dual-spinneret electrospinning followed by pyrolysis. The hybrid fibrous mat is then impregnated with binder-free TiO2 nanoparticles and sintered at 480 °C to form a flexible composite photoanode for DSSC. The DSSC based on this composite photoanode achieves a power conversion efficiency of 6.74 ± 0.33% on FTO/glass substrate. Device characterization and phototransient measurement, dye-loading experiment, and structural characterization indicate that, in the composite photoanode, the TiO2 nanoparticles enhance the dye loading, the TiO2 nanofibers improve the electron transport, and the SiO2 nanofibers provide the mechanical strength/flexibility. The freestanding composite mat of TiO2 nanoparticles and electrospun TiO2/SiO2 nanofibers, as well as the preparation methods reported herein, not only is ideal for flexible DSSCs, but also can be applied for a broad range of flexible and low-cost energy conversion devices.

Light harvesting and photocurrent generation by nanostructured photoelectrodes sensitized with a photosynthetic pigment: a new application for microalgae

Here in this study, successful conversion of visible light into electricity has been achieved through utilizing microalgal pigments as a sensitizer of nanostructured photo-electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). For the first time, photosynthetic pigments extracted from microalgae grown in wastewater is employed to imitate photosynthesis process in bio-molecule-sensitized solar cells. Two designs of photoanode were employed: 10 μm nanoparticular TiO2 electrode and 20 μm long self-ordered, vertically oriented nanotube arrays of titanium dioxide films. Microalgal photosynthetic pigments are loaded on nanostructured electrodes and their photovoltaic performances have been investigated. To optimize the performance of solar cell, the time course of dye loading on the nanocrystalline TiO2 films is investigated. The performance of the cells is characterized by measuring the current-voltage (I-V) curves under AM1.5 (100 mW cm(-2)) irradiation condition. The highest efficiency of around ∼ 1%, quite comparable to green plants, is found for sensitizer-loading time of 1h.

Effects of surface modification on dye-sensitized solar cell based on an organic dye with naphtho[2,1-b:3,4-b']dithiophene as the conjugated linker

We have investigated the effects of surface modification on the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on a donor-(π-spacer)-acceptor organic dye. A major challenge for donor-(π-spacer)--acceptor molecules as sensitizers in DSSCs is the fast recombination reactions that occur at both the photoanode (e.g., TiO2) surface and the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode, which presents unfavorable effects on the DSSC performance. The two interfaces of TiO2/electrolyte and FTO/electrolyte are passivated selectively in a DSSC using an organic dye with Naphtho[2,1-b:3,4-b']dithiophene as the conjugated linker and the I(-)/I3(-) electrolyte. The current density-voltage characteristics, the dark current analysis, the open circuit voltage-light intensity dependence, and the transient photovoltage/photocurrent results indicate that the recombination processes are affected strongly by surface passivation under variable light intensity. At high light intensity, the recombination reaction at the TiO2 surface is dominant. In this case, silane passivation of the TiO2 surface can suppress recombination significantly, while the c-TiO2 layer makes little contribution to the reduction of the recombination. At low illumination intensity, the recombination at FTO becomes significant, and the recombination can be reduced by applying a c-TiO2 layer.

Hybrid Titania Photoanodes with a Nanostructured Multi-Layer Configuration for Highly Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

To construct a hybrid titania photoanode containing nanoparticles and nanorods of varied size in a multilayer (ML) configuration for dye-sensitized solar cells, the essence of our ML design is a bilayer system with additional layers of nanorods of well-controlled size inserted between the transparent and the scattering layers to enhance the light-harvesting capability for photosensitizers with small absorptivity, such as Z907. We measured charge-extraction and intensity-modulated photoelectric spectra to show the advantages of one-dimensional nanorods with an improved electron-transport property and an upward shift of the potential band edge; a favorable ML configuration was constructed to have a cascade potential feature for feasible electron transport from long nanorods, to normal nanorods, to small nanoparticles. On the basis of the ML system reported herein, we demonstrate how the performance of a Z907 device is improved to attain η ∼10%, which is a milestone for its future commercialization.