Abstract:
Among the methods used to fabricate metal oxide nanostructures, electrospinning appears
to be a convenient method due its ability to make continuous nanostructures with large
surface area. Rice grain-shaped nanostructure of high surface area was prepared on TiO2
nanoparticle layer by simple, inexpensive electrospinning method. The electrospinning
solution was prepared by using Titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TiP), polyvinyl acetate (PVAc)
and acetic acid in N-N dimethylformamide (DMF). After the calcination at 500 0C,
nanoparticle layer was coated on the fiber mat. These composite electrodes were used to
fabricate quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and the performances of these
solar cells were checked with Polyethylene oxide (PEO) based gel electrolyte by optimizing
the best electrolyte composition. These values were compared with DSSCs fabricated using
pristine TiO2 nanoparticle electrode. While the DSSCs fabricated with rice grain-shaped
nanostructure composite TiO2 electrodes showed an average efficiency of 6.9 % with short
circuit current density (Jsc) of 16.93 mA cm-2 and open circuit voltage (Voc) of 672.3 mV
respectively, the DSSCs fabricated with TiO2 nanopartical electrode alone showed an
average efficiency of 5.76% with Jsc of 12.12 mA cm-2 and Voc of 718.7 mV respectively. A
comparison of the photovoltaic performance of the DSSCs with TiO2 nanoparticle alone
showed that the rice grain-shaped structures are superior to TiO2 nanoparticle prepared
with commercially available TiO2.
