For dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), the fundamental process that determines the maximum short-circuit current is the absorption of light. In such devices, this is produced by the concurrent phenomena of light absorption by dye molecules and light trapping in the mesoporous, titania photoanode structure. The decoupling of these two phenomena is important for device characterization and the de...

As metal nanostructures demonstrated extraordinary plasmon resonance, their optical characteristics have widely been investigated in photo-electronic applications. However, there has been no clear demonstration on the location effect of plasmonic metal layer within the photoanode on both optical characteristics and photovoltaic performances. In this research, the gold (Au) nano-islands (NIs) fi...

In this study, ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were conformally covered on the surfaces of ZnO nanowires (ZnO NWs) with high diffusion coefficient (1.2 × 10(-2) cm(2) s(-1)) to make a composite photoanode. By using N719 to sensitize the composite photoanode, the conversion efficiency can reach 7.14%.

Photochemical deposition of Co and Ni based oxygen evolution catalysts on hematite nanorods cathodically shifted the onset potential of photocurrent near to the flat band potential of hematite. A 9.5 fold enhancement in the photocurrent density at 0.86 V vs. RHE compared to the parent hematite photoanode was observed with the Ni-Bi/Fe(2)O(3) photoanode.

We report an unassisted solar water splitting system powered by a diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-containing semitransparent organic solar cell. Two major merits of this fullerene-free solar cell enable its integration with a BiVO4 photoanode. First is the high open circuit voltage and high fill factor displayed by this single junction solar cell, which yields sufficient power to effect water splitt...

Metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) photoelectrodes offer a simple alternative to the traditional semiconductor-liquid junction and the conventional p-n junction electrode. Highly efficient MIS photoanodes require interfacial surface passivating oxides and high workfunction metals to produce a high photovoltage. Herein, we investigate and analyze the effect of interfacial oxides and metal workf...

To minimize the charge recombination between electrons and the electron acceptor in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells, we propose a separated electron donor and acceptor of a redox couple in the photoanode and in the cathode, respectively. Owing to the absence of the acceptor in the photoanode initially, the charge recombination rate is retarded remarkably, resulting in an increase of the ...

In this work, a new way to fabricate nanoporous TiO2 photoanode by flash light is demonstrated. TiO2 nanoparticles are sintered on FTO glass by flash light irradiation at room temperature in ambient condition, which is dramatically simple, ultrahigh speed and one-shot large area fabrication process compared to a conventional high temperature (120 °C) thermal sintering process. The effect of the...

This paper describes an approach to synthesize a tightly adhered Ta3N5 nanotube array (NTA) photoanode with enhanced electron conductivity between the Ta3N5 layer and the substrate via a two-step anodization method. The obtained tightly adhered Ta3N5 NTA photoanode exhibits excellent photoelectrochemical properties with an optimal photocurrent up to 5.3 mA cm(-2) at 1.6 V vs. the reversible hyd...

Globally scalable sunlight-driven devices that convert solar energy into storable fuels will require efficient light absorbers that are made of non-precious elements. Suitable photoanode materials are yet to be discovered. Here we utilised the timesaving nature of pulsed-laser-in-liquids synthesis and prepared a series of neat and mixed-metal tungsten oxide photoanode materials to investigate t...