| This research is aimed to evaluate the effects of a pyrochlore to enhance the efficiency of a solid state organic inorganic halide-sensitized solar cell. The objectives of this study are to synthesize, assemble, test, and evaluate a pyrochlore that will lower the band gap of TiO2 and increase conversion efficiency in solid state organic-inorganic halide sensitized solar cells. The cells that were constructed and evaluated were made up of titanium oxide (TiO2) or yttrium titanate (Y2Ti 2O7), a perovskite organic lead iodide (CH3NH 3PbI3) as the polymer, a hole transport membrane (HTM) made of 1,3,5-Tris(diphenylamino) benzene, a layer of carbon black, and Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) coated glass. The cells were characterized and tested under a 658 nm wavelength light with a power density of 65 mW/cm 2 , while the individual substances were examined under a scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscopes and x-ray diffraction analyses were conducted to determine the structural make up of the individual materials. From the obtained data cell conversion efficiencies and fill factors were calculated. It was found that the Y2Ti2O 7 nanofiber based cells exhibited the highest fill factor of 0.57 compared to 0.20 -0.29 obtained during the experiments with TiO2 based cells. The cell efficiencies of the Y2Ti2O7 were however low probably due to a significant portion of amorphous material in the photoactive layer of the cell. |
