Highly Efficiency p-Type Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Polygonal Star-morphology Cu2O Material of Photocathodes

Cuprous oxide(Cu₂O), as an important p-type semiconductor, has been widely investigated due to its high electron transmission and facile preparation. However, the electrode made of only Cu₂O has been rarely investigated. In order to demonstrate the possibility that material Cu₂O can be applied to the electrode of p-type dye sensitized solar cells(DSSCs), the photo-electrodes made of prepared Cu₂O powder and commercial Cu₂O particles have been fabricated. The results show that the electrode based on as-prepared Cu₂O(Cu₂O-2) powder exhibits higher performance than that based on commercial Cu₂O(Cu₂O-1) particle. The device based on Cu₂O-2 electrode reaches into an open-circuit voltage of 0.71 V, a short-circuit current density of 1.3 mA/cm², a fill factor(FF) of 46%, and a conversion efficiency of 0.42% measured under AM 1.5G(100 mW/cm²) illumination. The enhancement performance of Cu₂O-2 is attributed to the high dye adsorption of Cu₂O-2 compared with that of Cu₂O-1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest conversion efficiency value reported for solar cells based on Cu₂O-DSSC. This work provides that Cu₂O is also a candidate for constructing the electrode of p-type dye sensitized solar cells.