Self-organized nanostructures in hybrid solar cells
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
Traditional mainstream inorganic semiconductor technology has been remarkably successful. However, standard fabrication techniques of microelectronic devices and components rely on a layer-by-layer assembly process and fall short of delivering three dimensional control of device architecture. Naturally-occurring complex systems utilize self-organising three dimensional architectures to deliver functionality beyond the properties of the individual components. To generate highly structured inorganic materials nature usually employs organic templates. Coordinating between inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, material science and semiconductor physics is one of the opportunities within nanotechnology. This area of multidisciplinary research provides the tools to fabricate three dimensional architectures which promise to deliver novel functionality to material composites. One of the most significant and pressing challenges to face society today is to generate clean renewable power, in order to sustain economic growth and to reduce our negative impact upon the environment. Highly structured material composites with large interfacial surface area between dissimilar components are of particular importance in energy storage and generation, such as batteries, photovoltaics and fuel cells. There is significant current interest in structures ideal for the photovoltaic response due to the potential exploitation as solar cells. The challenge is in fabricating material composites which absorb sufficient sun light, generate charge effectively from the absorbed light, which for organic and hybrid (organic-inorganic) composites requires a large interfacial surface area, and have efficient charge collection pathways to an external circuit, the latter competing with charge recombination. Here, self-organising molecular materials, and specifically di-block co-polymers as templates for inorganic semiconductor architectures will be developed and integrated into prototype low-cost hybrid photovoltaic systems. Specific objectives within this First Grant Project are to develop novel photovoltaic systems which out perform the current state-of-the-art and to greatly enhance our understanding of the physics occurring within nanostructured composites and at the interface between hard and soft semiconductors.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Henry Snaith (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Wojciechowski K
(2014)
Heterojunction modification for highly efficient organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells.
in ACS nano
Weisspfennig C
(2013)
Optimizing the Energy Offset between Dye and Hole-Transporting Material in Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Weisspfennig C
(2013)
Dependence of Dye Regeneration and Charge Collection on the Pore-Filling Fraction in Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
in Advanced Functional Materials
Wehrenfennig C
(2015)
Fast Charge-Carrier Trapping in TiO 2 Nanotubes
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Wehrenfennig C
(2014)
Charge-carrier dynamics in vapour-deposited films of the organolead halide perovskite CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3-x Cl x
in Energy Environ. Sci.
Wehrenfennig C
(2014)
High charge carrier mobilities and lifetimes in organolead trihalide perovskites.
in Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Tiwana P
(2012)
The origin of an efficiency improving "light soaking" effect in SnO2 based solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells
in Energy & Environmental Science
Tiwana P
(2009)
Ultrafast Terahertz Conductivity Dynamics in Mesoporous TiO 2 : Influence of Dye Sensitization and Surface Treatment in Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Tan ZK
(2014)
Bright light-emitting diodes based on organometal halide perovskite.
in Nature nanotechnology
Snaith HJ
(2010)
SnO2-based dye-sensitized hybrid solar cells exhibiting near unity absorbed photon-to-electron conversion efficiency.
in Nano letters
Snaith H
(2009)
Charge Generation and Photovoltaic Operation of Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Incorporating a High Extinction Coefficient Indolene-Based Sensitizer
in Advanced Functional Materials
Snaith H
(2013)
Perovskites: The Emergence of a New Era for Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Snaith H
(2009)
Estimating the Maximum Attainable Efficiency in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
in Advanced Functional Materials
Snaith H
(2008)
Charge collection and pore filling in solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells
in Nanotechnology
Snaith H
(2011)
Lead-sulphide quantum-dot sensitization of tin oxide based hybrid solar cells
in Solar Energy
Snaith H
(2008)
High Extinction Coefficient "Antenna" Dye in Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: A Photophysical and Electronic Study
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Sivaram V
(2014)
Observation of Annealing-Induced Doping in TiO 2 Mesoporous Single Crystals for Use in Solid State Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Schuettfort T
(2010)
Synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of solution processable highly ordered polythiophene-carbon nanotube nanohybrid structures.
in Nanotechnology
Sadoughi G
(2013)
Enhanced electronic contacts in SnO2-dye-P3HT based solid state dye sensitized solar cells.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Plank NO
(2008)
A simple low temperature synthesis route for ZnO-MgO core-shell nanowires.
in Nanotechnology
Planells M
(2013)
Diacetylene bridged triphenylamines as hole transport materials for solid state dye sensitized solar cells
in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Petrozza A
(2008)
Electron transport and recombination in dye-sensitized mesoporous TiO2 probed by photoinduced charge-conductivity modulation spectroscopy with Monte Carlo modeling.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Pattanasattayavong P
(2012)
Solution-processed dye-sensitized ZnO phototransistors with extremely high photoresponsivity
in Journal of Applied Physics
Pathak S
(2014)
Towards Long-Term Photostability of Solid-State Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
in Advanced Energy Materials
Passoni L
(2013)
Hyperbranched quasi-1D nanostructures for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells.
in ACS nano
Nedelcu M
(2010)
Monolithic route to efficient dye-sensitized solar cells employing diblock copolymers for mesoporous TiO 2
in J. Mater. Chem.
Leijtens T
(2013)
Charge density dependent mobility of organic hole-transporters and mesoporous TiO2 determined by transient mobility spectroscopy: implications to dye-sensitized and organic solar cells.
in Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Kuang D
(2008)
A new ion-coordinating ruthenium sensitizer for mesoscopic dye-sensitized solar cells
in Inorganica Chimica Acta
Kabra D
(2008)
High Efficiency Composite Metal Oxide-Polymer Electroluminescent Devices: A Morphological and Material Based Investigation
in Advanced Materials
Huang D
(2009)
Optical description of solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. II. Device optical modeling with implications for improving efficiency
in Journal of Applied Physics
Hey A
(2013)
Large area hole transporter deposition in efficient solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell mini-modules
in Journal of Applied Physics
Hardin B
(2012)
The renaissance of dye-sensitized solar cells
in Nature Photonics
Habisreutinger SN
(2014)
Enhanced Hole Extraction in Perovskite Solar Cells Through Carbon Nanotubes.
in The journal of physical chemistry letters
Guldin S
(2011)
Improved conductivity in dye-sensitised solar cells through block-copolymer confined TiO 2 crystallisation
in Energy Environ. Sci.
Grancini G
(2012)
Boosting Infrared Light Harvesting by Molecular Functionalization of Metal Oxide/Polymer Interfaces in Efficient Hybrid Solar Cells
in Advanced Functional Materials
Docampo P
(2012)
Pore Filling of Spiro-OMeTAD in Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Determined Via Optical Reflectometry
in Advanced Functional Materials
Docampo P
(2010)
Control of Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Performance by Block-Copolymer-Directed TiO 2 Synthesis
in Advanced Functional Materials
Docampo P
(2012)
Triblock-Terpolymer-Directed Self-Assembly of Mesoporous TiO 2 : High-Performance Photoanodes for Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
in Advanced Energy Materials
D'Innocenzo V
(2014)
Excitons versus free charges in organo-lead tri-halide perovskites.
in Nature communications
Crossland EJ
(2009)
Block copolymer morphologies in dye-sensitized solar cells: probing the photovoltaic structure-function relation.
in Nano letters
Cheng C
(2014)
Polystyrene templated porous titania wells for quantum dot heterojunction solar cells.
in ACS applied materials & interfaces
Burlakov V
(2014)
Controlling coverage of solution cast materials with unfavourable surface interactions
in Applied Physics Letters
Brown M
(2011)
Surface Energy Relay Between Cosensitized Molecules in Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Ball J
(2012)
A panchromatic anthracene-fused porphyrin sensitizer for dye-sensitized solar cells
in RSC Advances
Abrusci A
(2011)
Facile infiltration of semiconducting polymer into mesoporous electrodes for hybrid solar cells
in Energy & Environmental Science
Abrusci A
(2011)
Influence of Ion Induced Local Coulomb Field and Polarity on Charge Generation and Efficiency in Poly(3-Hexylthiophene)-Based Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
in Advanced Functional Materials
Abate A
(2014)
An Organic "Donor-Free" Dye with Enhanced Open-Circuit Voltage in Solid-State Sensitized Solar Cells
in Advanced Energy Materials
Abate A
(2013)
Protic ionic liquids as p-dopant for organic hole transporting materials and their application in high efficiency hybrid solar cells.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
| Description | Realised a new "gyroid" structure for mesoprous TiO2 which enabled improved control of the 3D porous structure, while enabling ideal interconnectivity of the semiconducting network. |
| Exploitation Route | useful for the general field working on mesoporous materials |
| Sectors | Electronics,Energy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Description | The findings were responsible for spinning out Oxford PV originally based on solid-state dye sensitized solar cells |
| First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
| Sector | Energy |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Oxford PV |
| Organisation | Oxford Photovoltaics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have made cells and materials and supplied them to Oxford PV for characterisation and/or further material deposition. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Oxford PV have supplied some Silicon PV cells upon which to coat the perovskite cells for the all perovskite tandem cells. They have also deposited ITO conducting oxide upon our cells to complete our devices. In addition they have allowed access to other characterisation facilities including optical microscope and x-ray diffraction analysis. |
| Impact | One of the main outcomes is that Oxford PV has raised in the region of £30M external investment, with the technology based on technology originally conceived in Oxford University. The company has benefited from continuing fundamental advancements of the technology, driven from our university lab. we are now working closely together on this project and will collaboratively deliver record efficiency solar cells. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Company Name | Oxford PV ltd |
| Description | technology company developing perovskite solar cells. The company's business plan is to develop the IP and know how to manufacture perovskite solar cells, and partner with existing PV manufacturers (primarily Si PV industry) for large scale manufacturing |
| Year Established | 2010 |
| Impact | Raised ~ £20M of investment in 3 rounds. Hold strong fundamental patent portfolio for perovskite solar cells, making them the key player in this technology. |
| Website | http://www.oxfordpv.com/ |
| Description | Various Radio Interviews |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Radio Interviews for BBC world service and news reports |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=henry+snaith |