NiO photocathodes for p-type DSCs and perovskite solar cells

Danilo Dini^a, Maria Letizia De Marco^a, Franco Decker^a, Carlos F.O. Graeff^b, Mirko Congiu^b, Shokri Khalifa^c, Denis Dowling^c, Aldo Di Carlo^d, Fabio Matteocci^d

^aDepartment of Chemistry, “La Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, Roma, Italy

^bUNESP, Bauru-SP, Brazil, Av. Eng. Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube, 1000, Bauru, 17033

^cSurface engineering group, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4

^dCHOSE - Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy, University of Rome ‘‘Tor Vergata’’, Via del Politecnico, 1, Roma, Italy

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2015 (HOPV15)

Roma, Italy, 2015 May 11th - 13th

Organizer: Filippo De Angelis

Poster, Mirko Congiu, 411
Publication date: 5th February 2015

In the field of solar energy conversion with electrochemical dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), p-type semiconductors have been considered mainly for their utilization in tandem devices in which both electrodes are photoelectroactive. [1] Mesoporous nickel oxide of p-type,[2] has represented the most important cathodic material for DSCs, [2] and with the outbreak of organic halide perovskite solar cells, [3] NiO turned out to be one of the best choices also for p-type perovskite solar cells.[4] The present contribution concerns the deposition of NiO electrodes for either p-type DSC or p-type perovskite solar cells applications. The electrode is generally composed by two layers of non stoichiometric nickel oxide (NiO_x) with distinct morphological features: a first compact layer of NiO_x (with thickness of about 30 nm), deposited on a substrate of a transparent conductor (FTO), and the second mesoscopic film of NiO (thickness of several hundreds of nm), which coats the compact oxide layer. Compact NiO film for DSC purposes, has been deposited by reactive ion sputtering and placed at the interface between the porous NiO layer and the conductive glass in order to act as blocking layer which prevents charge recombination phenomena. The mesoscopic NiO layer, is deposited by spray deposition of NiO nanoparticles in the case of DSCs, and by spin coating in the case of perovskite cells. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, profilometry and ellipsometry have been employed for the morphological characterization of the differently deposited NiO_x layers, while electrochemical characterization of the device will be carried out by impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. As a further investigation, p-type CoS counter electrodes, prepared by the single precursor method[6], have been used in several p-type DSSC devices.
Scanning electron microscopy image of the surface of a typical NiO mesoscopic electrode prepared by spray deposition.
[1] F. Obodel, L. Le Pleux, Y. Pellegrin, E. Blart, Accounts of chemical research, 2010, 43, 1063-1071 [2] K.Wang, J. Jeng, P. Shen, Y. Chang, E. Wei-Guang Diau,C.Tsai, T.Chao, H.Hsu, P.Lin, P.Chen, T.Guo,T. Wen, Scientific Reports, 2014, 4, 4576 [3] H.J. Snaith, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2013, 4, 3623-3630 [4] Hagfeldt et al., Chemical Reviews, 2010, 110, No 11 [5] M. Awais, D. Dowling, M.Rahman , J.Vos,F. Decker , D.Dini, Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, 2013, 43, 191-197 [6] M. Congiu, L.G.S. Albano, F. Decker, C.F.O. Graeff, Single precursor route to efficient cobalt sulphide counter electrodes for dye sensitized solar cells, Electrochim. Acta. (2015).

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