Application of transition-metal-oxide-based nanostructured thin films on third generation solar cells

Abstract

One of the greatest challenges of our time is to devise means to provide energy in a sustainable way to attend an exponentially growing demand. The energy demand is expected to grow 56% by 2040. In this context, the use of clean and sustainable sources of energy is imperative. Among these sources, solar energy is the only one which can meet the total world energy requirement even considering such large growth in demand. The solar power incident on the Earth's surface every second is equivalent to 4 trillion 100-watt light bulbs. Photovoltaic solar cells are one of several ways to harness solar energy. These cells convert solar energy directly into electricity. Commercial photovoltaic devices are already a reality, but their share of the world energy matrix is still quite small, mainly due to the high costs. Next generation photovoltaics open a number of new possibilities for photovoltaic energy applications that can potentially decrease the overall cost of energy production. Transition metal semiconductor oxides are promising materials that can be produced by low cost methods and o er interesting new features. The use of these materials in next generation photovoltaics is therefore a very promising and interesting application. In this thesis work zinc, titanium and vanadium oxides were used in next generation solar cells. Thin lms of zinc oxide were synthesized by the low cost and environmentally friendly techniques of electrodeposition and hydrothermal synthesis and applied as working electrodes in highly e cient dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The lms were characterized by structural and optical techniques while the cells were tested by current vs: voltage and quantum e ciency measurements. The e ciencies of these cells were as high as 2.27% using ZnO thin lms without any post deposition treatment. Moreover, natural dyes extracted from plants of northeastern Brazil were applied as sensitizers in DSSCs assembled with commercial available TiO 2 as working electrode. The natural dyes were extracted employing very simple methods and were characterized by XPS and UPS techniques. Their band alignments were shown to be compatible with the TiO 2 as well as with the mediator electrolyte. The e ciency of DSSCs sensitized with natural dyes were as high as 1.33%. Finally, water based V 2 O 5 was used as hole transport medium (HTM) in conventional organic solar cells (OSCs) and ITO-free, plastic OSCs. The results obtained with V 2 O 5 were compared with the results obtained from cells assembled with PEDOT:PSS, which is the most used HTM. This comparison showed that the use of V 2 O 5 as HTM can lead to more e cient OSCs. The stability of these devices were evaluated by tests applying the ISOS standards ISOS-D-1, ISOS-L-1 and ISOS-O-1. A UV- lter and a protective graphene oxide (GO) layer were employed seeking to improve the stability of OSCs. The combination of both UV- lter and GO protective layer was shown to be the most e ective way to improve the stability of these devices