Abstract:
The effects of tuning and scattering on the enhancement of conventional nanocrystalline TiO 2 dye sensitized solar cells were investigated when coupled to an inverse opal photonic crystal or disordered macroporous TiO 2 film. Multiple scattering events and localization between the nanocrystalline TiO 2 film and the coupled films have led to an increase in the molar absorption to the red edge of the stop band for the Ruthenium535 dye as compared to a standard Gratzel cell. This enhancement has shown an improvement ≤ 26percent over conventional DSSC. Both Bragg diffraction and diffuse scattering events were attributed to this efficiency enhancement. The effect of introducing scattering centers, tuning the bilayer structure, and novel cell designs were presented. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 228th ACS National Meeting (Philadelphia, PA, 8-22-26-2004).