Shahat M Abdelhamid, Ghitas Ahmed, Almutairi Fahad N, Alresheedi Nadi Mlihan
PV Unit, Solar and Space Research Department, National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Helwan, 11421, Cairo, Egypt.
Department of Physics, College of Sciences and Humanities, Shaqra University, 19257, Al Quwayiyah, Saudi Arabia.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 29;14(1):25977. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-67055-0.
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have great potential as a renewable energy technology assisting combat climate change due to its low cost, adaptability, and sustainability. Oxygen plasma ion doping is a promising strategy to improve the capacity of a low-cost, platinum-free counter-electrodes (CEs) to absorb photons and drive high-performance DSSCs via generating an abundance of active absorption sites. In this instance, novel PAni-ZnO (PZ) composite layers were designed as a CE material and received various in-situ oxygen plasma dosages, including 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 min, to improve their physiochemical and microstructural feature for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Physical evaluations of the microstructure, porosity, morphology, contact angle, roughness, electrical, and optical, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) features of CEs were conducted in along with an evaluation of J-V variables. Compared to pristine CE substance, the surface nature of the modified hybrids was gradually enhanced as the plasma level rose, reaching an optimum after 8 min (i.e. 0.2 µm for average pore size and average roughness Ra = 7.21 µm). Expanded plasma treatment doses also improved PV cell performance even further: after 4 min at a plasma level, η = 5.41% was obtained, and after 6 min in a oxygen plasma environment, η = 5.81% was obtained. Mixing high energetic plasma ions increased the mobility of charge carriers in PAni composites along with lowered charge carrier recombination through generating an environment that was conducive to charge dissociation. Therefore, longer lifespans and more effective charge transfer inside the photovoltaic cell as a consequence of the increased mobility less resistive losses. In this respect, following 8 min of plasma surface modification of the PZ CE, the optimized efficiency of 6.31% and J of 15.6 mA/cm were obtained. The improvement in efficiency equated to a proportion growth of 77% versus a pristine one. This gain was explained by the reality that suffusing a quantity of oxygen plasma free radicals into the PAni system developed continuous channels that enabled the mixture to move electrons more rapidly, hence raising the photovoltaic efficiency. Overall, this study highlights the advantages of regulating heteroatom species and their co-doping, offering a new perspective for the application of heteroatom-doped CE in DSSCs.
染料敏化太阳能电池（DSSCs）因其低成本、适应性强和可持续性，作为一种有助于应对气候变化的可再生能源技术具有巨大潜力。氧等离子体离子掺杂是一种很有前景的策略，可通过产生大量活性吸收位点来提高低成本无铂对电极（CEs）吸收光子并驱动高性能DSSCs的能力。在这种情况下，首次设计了新型PAni-ZnO（PZ）复合层作为CE材料，并接受了包括0、2、4、6、8和10分钟在内的各种原位氧等离子体剂量处理，以改善其物理化学和微观结构特征。对CEs的微观结构、孔隙率、形态、接触角、粗糙度、电学和光学、电化学阻抗谱（EIS）特征进行了物理评估，并对J-V变量进行了评估。与原始CE物质相比，随着等离子体水平的提高，改性杂化物的表面性质逐渐增强，在8分钟后达到最佳状态（即平均孔径为0.2µm，平均粗糙度Ra = 7.21µm）。增加的等离子体处理剂量也进一步提高了光伏电池的性能：在等离子体水平处理4分钟后，η = 5.41%，在氧等离子体环境中处理6分钟后，η = 5.81%。混合高能等离子体离子增加了PAni复合材料中电荷载流子的迁移率，并通过产生有利于电荷解离的环境降低了电荷载流子复合。因此，由于迁移率增加，光伏电池内部的寿命更长，电荷转移更有效，电阻损耗更小。在这方面，对PZ CE进行8分钟的等离子体表面改性后，获得了6.31%的优化效率和15.6 mA/cm的J。效率的提高相当于相对于原始效率增长了77%。这种提高是因为向PAni系统中注入一定量的氧等离子体自由基形成了连续通道，使混合物能够更快地移动电子，从而提高了光伏效率。总体而言，本研究突出了调节杂原子种类及其共掺杂的优势，为杂原子掺杂CE在DSSCs中的应用提供了新的视角。
