Journal of Advances in Nanomaterials

Download PDF (594.6 KB) PP. 60 - 64 Pub. Date: March 3, 2017

DOI: 10.22606/jan.2017.21006

• Namanu P^*
  Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India 575025
• M. Jayalakshmi
  Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India 575025
• K. Udayabhat
  Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, India 575025

The fabrication of a low cost, sustainable semiconductor sensitised solar cell is carried out using FeS₂ nanorods as the sensitising material over an electrode coated by TiO₂ nanoparticles. Though the semiconductor sensitised cells are eloquently researched, NR structures as a sensitising material are still not fully investigated despite their features potentially beneficial for accelerating the performance of the devices. The pyrite NR based solar cell is having a notable open circuit voltage of 0.16 V, a short circuit current of 3.9 mA/cm² and an overall conversion efficiency of 0.63%. A simple design and fabrication approach like doctor blading, dip coating is employed throughout the work with an objective to minimise the fabrication cost as much as possible.

Pyrite solar cells; FeS₂, nanorods, cheap photovoltaics, photoelctrochemical cell.

[1] A. Ennaoui, H. Tributsch, Iron sulphide solar cells, Sol. Energ. Mat. Sol. C. 13(2), 197-200 (1984).

[2] T. Hong, Low-temperature synthesis of size-controllable anatase TiO2 microspheres and interface optimization of bi-layer anodes for high efficiency dye sensitized solar cells, Electrochim. Acta. 137, 17-25 (2014).

[3] J.M. Lucas, C.C. Tuan, D.L. Sebastien, K.B. David, R. Qiao, W. Yang, A. Lanzara, A.P. Alivisatos, Ligand-controlled colloidal synthesis and electronic structure characterization of cubic iron pyrite (FeS2) nanocrystals, Chem. Mater. 25, 1615-1620 (2013).

[4] Y. Bai, J. Yeom, M. Yang, S.H. Cha, K. Sun, and A.N. Kotov, J. Phys. Chem. C 117, 62567-2573 (2013).

[5] A. Ennaoui, S. Fiechter, G. Smestad and H. Tributsch, Proc. 1st World Renewable Energy Congress, Reading, UK, Pergamon Press, City pp. 458 1990.

[6] T. Dittrich, A. Belaidi, A. Ennaoui, Concepts of inorganic solid-state nanostructured solar cells, Sol. Energ. Mater. Sol. C. vol. 95, 1527-1536 (2011).

[7] Y. C. Shen, H. Deng, J. Fang, and Z. Lu, Co-sensitization of microporous TiO2 electrodes with dye molecules and quantum-sized semiconductor particles, Colloid. Surface. A 175, 135–140 (2000).

[8] G. Chatzitheodorou, S. Fiechter, M. Kunst, J. Luck, and H.Tributsch, Low temperature chemical preparation of semiconducting transition metal chalcogenide films for energy conversion and storage, lubrication and surface protection, Mater. Res. Bull. 23, 1261-1271 (2003).

[9] N. Guijarro, J.M. Campina, Q. Shen,T. Toyoda, T. Lana-Villarreala, R. Gómez, Uncovering the Role of the ZnS Treatment in the Performance of Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 13, 12024–12032 (2011).

[10] J.T Margraf, A. Ruland, V. Sgobba, D.M. Guldi, T. Clark, Quantum-Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells: Understanding Linker Molecules through Theory and Experiment, Langmuir 29, 2434–2438 (2013).

[11] H. McDaniel, N. Fuke, N.S. Makarov, J.M. Pietryga, V.I. Klimov, An Integrated Approach to Realizing High-Performance Liquid-Junction Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells, Nat. Commun. 4, 2887-2896 (2013).

[12] K. Sunita, K. Simanta, P. Amitava, K.G. Ashok, Band gap tuning of ZnO/In2S3 core/shell nanorod arrays for enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalysis, J. Phys. Chem. C 117, 5558-5567 (2013).

[13] M.S. Eichfeld, Synthesis and characterization of silicon nanowire arrays for photovoltaic applications. Diss. The Pennsylvania State University 2009.

[14] Y.H.J. Lee, Z. Li, L. Fu, P. Parkinson, K. Vora, H.H. Tan, C. Jagadish, Improved GaAs nanowire solar cells using AlGaAs for surface passivation, Optoelectronic and Microelectronic Materials & Devices, Proceedings, COMMAD 131-132 (2012).

[15] J. Bai, Q. Wang, T. Wang, Characterization of InGaN-based nanorod light emitting diodes with different indium compositions, J. Appl. Phys. 111, 113103(2012).

[16] P. Namanu, M. Jayalakshmi, K. Udayabhat, Low temperature synthesis of Iron pyrite nanorods for photovoltaic applications, J. Mater. Sci: Mater. Electron. 26, 8534-8539 (2015).

[17] M.M. Ba-Abbad, A.A.H. Kadhum, A.B. Mohamad, M.S. Takriff, K. Sopian, Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 7, 4871-4888 (2012).

[18] S. Ruoshi, M.K.Y. Chan, G. Ceder, First-principles electronic structure and relative stability of pyrite and marcasite: Implications for photovoltaic performance, Phys. Rev. B 83, 235311 (2011).

[19] A. Krishnamoorthy, F.W. Herbert , S. Yip, K.J. Van Vliet , B. Yildiz, Electronic states of intrinsic surface and bulk vacancies in FeS2, J. Phys. Condens. Matter. 25, 045004 (2012).