RESEARCH AREAS

The ANSER Center is a
U.S. DOE Energy Frontier
Research Center.

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Radial Electron Collection in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Cross-sectional SEM image of a TiO2 tube cleaved to reveal the ITO tube beneath.

A promising new dye-sensitized solar cell photoanode design in which electrons radially diffuse through the wall of semiconducting tubes and are efficiently collected at an adjacent, concentric ITO tube has been experimentally realized.  The work, a collaborative effort between Professors Joseph Hupp and Michael Pellin, was reported in the September 10, 2008 issue of Nano Letters. The concentric tubes, grown by atomic layer deposition, are embedded in an array of ~60 μm long alumina pores. The viability of this architecture as a DSSC photoanode is demonstrated by the photovoltaic characterization of completed devices.

The Pellin Group