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Unveiling the impact of TiCl4 surface passivation on dye-sensitized solar cells: enhancing charge transfer kinetics and power conversion efficiency

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Abstract

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have gained considerable attention as a viable substitute for traditional silicon-based solar cells owing to their cost-effectiveness and superior efficiency. However, one of the major challenges in developing DSSCs is their susceptibility to recombination losses, which can significantly reduce their efficiency. Surface passivation is a key approach to address this issue by reducing the density of surface states and enhancing charge separation. This study focuses on the role of surface passivation in DSSCs, which involves the use of TiCl4 in different concentrations (10–30 mM) over the mesoporous TiO2 layer to reduce surface recombination. Based on our research, we found that optimizing the concentration of TiCl4 to 20 mM considerably enhanced the structural, optical, electrical, and charge transport properties of the TiO2 photoanodes, leading to improved ability to capture and utilize light energy into useful power in the pertinent DSSC. A DSSC treated with 20 mM TiCl4 demonstrated an excellent power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.04%, about 30% higher than the untreated DSSC.

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The data supporting the findings of this study will be made available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author. The data includes experimental measurements and analysis results obtained during this study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Indian Nanoelectronics user programme (INUP-IITB) for availing partial financial support, Centre for Research in Nanotechnology & Science (CRNTS), IIT Bombay, IIT Indore (MEMS Dept), and the College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, China, for their lab support and fruitful discussions. The authors are also thankful to Medi-Caps University for providing a University Research Fellowship (MU/URF/001) and Seed Money Support (MU/SMPS/No.21). The financial support provided by the funding agency significantly contributed to the successful execution of this study.

Funding

This research was partially supported by the Indian Nanoelectronics user programme (INUP-IITB/13DIT006) and Medi-Caps University, University Research Fellowship (MU/URF/001) and Seed Money Support (MU/SMPS/No.21).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Medi-Caps University, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, 453331, India

    Ujjwal Mahajan, Kamal Prajapat & Mahesh Dhonde

  2. Department of Physics, S.N.G.P.G. College, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, 450001, India

    Kirti Sahu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, College of Optical Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Pintu Ghosh

  4. Department of Metallurgy Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, 453552, India

    Parasharam M. Shirage

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  1. Ujjwal Mahajan
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  2. Kamal Prajapat
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  3. Kirti Sahu
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  4. Pintu Ghosh
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Contributions

UM: conceptualization, validation, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, and writing-original draft. KP: investigation, formal analysis, and writing-original draft. KS: formal analysis and editing. PG: formal analysis, writing-original draft and editing, and supervision. PMS: Resources, lab support, writing-original draft and editing. MD: conceptualization, funding acquisition, resources, supervision, and writing- review & editing.

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Correspondence to Mahesh Dhonde.

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Mahajan, U., Prajapat, K., Sahu, K. et al. Unveiling the impact of TiCl4 surface passivation on dye-sensitized solar cells: enhancing charge transfer kinetics and power conversion efficiency. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 2108 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11555-8

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