Conventional or Microwave Sintering: A Comprehensive Investigation to Achieve Efficient Clean Energy Harvesting

Siva Sankar Nemala, Sujitha Ravulapalli, Sudhanshu Mallick, Parag Bhargava, Sivasambu Bohm, Mayank Bhushan, Anukul K. Thakur and Debananda Mohapatra
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Siva Sankar Nemala: Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
Sujitha Ravulapalli: Accurate Labs, K.V.S.R. Siddhartha College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh 520010, India
Sudhanshu Mallick: Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
Parag Bhargava: Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
Sivasambu Bohm: Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
Mayank Bhushan: Department of Nanotechnology, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong 793022, India
Anukul K. Thakur: Department of Advanced Components and Material Engineering, Sunchon National University, Chonnam 57922, Korea
Debananda Mohapatra: Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-13

Abstract: Layers of titania are the critical components in sensitized photovoltaics. The transfer of electrons occurs from the dye molecule to the external circuit through a transparent conducting oxide, namely fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO). Porosity, interparticle connectivity, and the titania films’ defects play a vital role in assessing the dye-sensitized solar cells’ (DSSCs) performance. The conventional methods typically take several hours to fabricate these layers. This is a significant impediment for the large-scale manufacture of DSSCs. This step can be reduced to a few hours by a microwave sintering process and may facilitate the rapid fabrication of the critical layers for sensitized photovoltaics, thus, boosting the prospects for the commercialization of these devices. In the present study, we aimed to perform different heat treatments (conventional and microwave) on the titania films with different temperatures to understand the phase formation, transmittance, and porosity without losing the titania’s interparticle connectivity. The solar cell performance of microwave-sintered titania films is comparatively higher than that of conventionally sintered titania films.

Keywords: photoanode; commercialization; microwave sintering; energy conversion; dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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