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Nanomaterials
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Solar Cells Based on Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials
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Solar Cells Based on Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Solar Energy and Solar Cells".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 3468

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jing Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Physics, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Interests: solar cells; nano materials; mechanisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit articles that focus on the use of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanomaterials in solar cell applications.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanomaterials are known for their numerous and diverse applications, which range from common products such as sunscreens, to advanced devices such as photovoltaic cells, and include, among others, a series of environmental and biomedical applications, such as the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants, water purification, biosensing, and drug delivery. 

This Special Issue aims to present a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of TiO2 nanomaterials for solar cell applications, which can act both as an introduction for newcomers to this field and as a valuable resource for experienced researchers at the forefront of the field.

This Special Issue will especially focus on the synthesis and analysis of 0D- (cluster, single atom, etc.), 1D- (nanowire, nanorod, nanotube etc.), 2D- (nanoplate etc.), and 3D (nanoparticle, nanoflower, etc.)-structured nanomaterials for electrochemical energy conversion systems such as solar cells, including the development of computational material design and identifying reaction mechanisms. Other topics not on the list of specified topics are also welcomed if they are related to the theme of the Special Issue.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jing Zhang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Solar cells
  • computational material design
  • reaction mechanisms
  • photovoltaic

Published Papers (2 papers)

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12 pages, 3672 KiB  
Article
Sputtered Ultrathin TiO2 as Electron Transport Layer in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cell Technology
by Susana Fernández, Ignacio Torres and José Javier Gandía
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(14), 2441; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12142441 - 16 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1593
Abstract
This work presents the implementation of ultrathin TiO2 films, deposited at room temperature by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering, as electron-selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells. The effect of the working pressure on the properties of the TiO2 layers and its subsequent [...] Read more.
This work presents the implementation of ultrathin TiO2 films, deposited at room temperature by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering, as electron-selective contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells. The effect of the working pressure on the properties of the TiO2 layers and its subsequent impact on the main parameters of the device are studied. The material characterization revealed an amorphous structure regardless of the working pressure; a rougher surface; and a blue shift in bandgap in the TiO2 layer deposited at the highest-pressure value of 0.89 Pa. When incorporated as part of the passivated full-area electron contact in silicon heterojunction solar cell, the chemical passivation provided by the intrinsic a-Si:H rapidly deteriorates upon the sputtering of the ultra-thin TiO2 films, although a short anneal is shown to restore much of the passivation lost. The deposition pressure and film thicknesses proved to be critical for the efficiency of the devices. The film thicknesses below 2 nm are necessary to reach open-circuit values above 660 mV, regardless of the deposition pressure. More so, the fill-factor showed a strong dependence on deposition pressure, with the best values obtained for the highest deposition pressure, which we correlated to the porosity of the films. Overall, these results show the potential to fabricate silicon solar cells with a simple implementation of electron-selective TiO2 contact deposited by magnetron sputtering. These results show the potential to fabricate silicon solar cells with a simple implementation of electron-selective TiO2 contact. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Cells Based on Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials)
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11 pages, 14087 KiB  
Article
TiO2/CuO/Cu2O Photovoltaic Nanostructures Prepared by DC Reactive Magnetron Sputtering
by Grzegorz Wisz, Paulina Sawicka-Chudy, Maciej Sibiński, Dariusz Płoch, Mariusz Bester, Marian Cholewa, Janusz Woźny, Rostyslav Yavorskyi, Lyubomyr Nykyruy and Marta Ruszała
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(8), 1328; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12081328 - 12 Apr 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2859
Abstract
In this study, titanium dioxide/copper oxide thin-film solar cells were prepared using the reactive direct-current magnetron sputtering technique. The influence of the deposition time of the top Cu contact layer on the structural and electrical properties of photovoltaic devices was analyzed. The structural [...] Read more.
In this study, titanium dioxide/copper oxide thin-film solar cells were prepared using the reactive direct-current magnetron sputtering technique. The influence of the deposition time of the top Cu contact layer on the structural and electrical properties of photovoltaic devices was analyzed. The structural and morphological characterization of the TiO2/CuO/Cu2O solar cells was fully studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and current–voltage (I-V) characteristics. Additionally, using van der Pauw sample geometries, the electrical properties of the titanium dioxide and copper oxide layers were investigated. From the XRD study, solar cells were observed in cubic (Cu2O), monoclinic (CuO), and Ti3O5 phases. In addition, the crystallite size and dislocation density for copper oxide layers were calculated. Basic morphological parameters (thickness, mechanism of growth, and composition of elements) were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy. The thicknesses of the titanium dioxide and copper oxide layers were in the range of 43–55 nm and 806–1223 nm, respectively. Furthermore, the mechanism of growth and the basic composition of the elements of layers were analyzed. The I-V characteristic curve confirms the photovoltaic behavior of two titanium dioxide/copper oxide thin-film structures. The values of short-circuit current density (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) of the solar cells were: 4.0 ± 0.8 µA/cm2, 16.0 ± 4.8 mV and 0.43 ± 0.61 µA/cm2, 0.54 ± 0.31 mV, respectively. In addition, the authors presented the values of Isc, Pmax, FF, and Rsh. Finally, the resistivity, carrier concentration, and mobility are reported for selected layers with values reflecting the current literature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Cells Based on Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials)
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