Fabrication of Core-shell structured TiO_2/MgO Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

摘要

We demonstrated the construction and performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) based on nanoparticles of TiO_2 coated with thin shells of MgO by simple solution growth technique. The XRD patterns confirm the presence of both TiO_2 and MgO in the core-shell structure. The effect of varied shell thickness on the photovoltaic performance of the core-shell structured electrode is also investigated. We found that MgO shells of all thicknesses perform as barriers that improve open-circuit voltage (Voc) of the DSCs only at the expense of a larger decrease in short-circuit current density (Jsc). The energy conversion efficiency was greatly dependent on the thickness of MgO on TiO_2 film, and the highest efficiency of 4.1% was achieved at the optimum MgO shell layer.