ABSTRACT
Expression of Concern for 'Solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells based on Zn1-xSnxO nanocomposite photoanodes' by Ayat Nasr El-Shazly et al., RSC Adv., 2018,8, 24059-24067, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ra02852d.
ABSTRACT
The disposal of end-of-life (EOL) photovoltaic solar panels has become a relevant environmental issue as they are considered to be a hazardous electronic waste. On the other hand, enormous benefits are achieved from recovering valuable metals and materials from such waste. Eventually, physical and chemical processing will become the most important stages during the recycling process. A physical treatment including crushing, grinding, and screening was achieved, and it was observed that a fine fraction of -0.25 mm had the maximum percentage of the required materials. Moreover, the optimum chemical treatment conditions were adjusted to reach the maximum recovery of silver, aluminum, and silicon. The synthesis of silicon oxide, silver oxide, alunite, and K-Alum from leachant solution was performed through a simple route. The structural and morphological properties of the prepared materials were defined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).
ABSTRACT
As proficient photovoltaic devices, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have received considerable consideration in recent years. In order to accomplish advanced solar-to-electricity efficiency and increase long-term functioning stability, improvements in the configuration structure of DSSCs are essential, as is an understanding of their elementary principles. This work discusses the application of different semiconductor constituents designed for effective DSSCs. The main parameters crucial to fabrication of DSSC electrodes in nano-porous semiconductor structures are high surface area and large pore size. Different inorganic semiconductor materials are used to load sensitizer dyes, which absorb a lot of light and induce high photocurrent for efficient DSSCs. The first section of the review covers energy sources, photovoltaics, and the benefits of solar cells in daily life, while the second part includes the various types of semiconductors applied in DSSC applications. The final section provides a brief review of future perspectives for DSSCs and a survey of semiconductor materials proposed for solar cell applications.
ABSTRACT
Solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (ss-DSSCs) comprising Sn2+-substituted ZnO nanopowder were purposefully tailored via a co-precipitation method. The solar cells assembled in this work were sensitized with N719 ruthenium dye and insinuated with spiro-OMeTAD as a solid hole transport layer (HTL). Evidently, significant enhancement in cell efficiency was accomplished with Sn2+ ions-substituted ZnO photoelectrodes by maintaining the weight ratio of SnO at 5%. The overall power conversion efficiency was improved from 3.0% for the cell with pure ZnO to 4.3% for the cell with 5% SnO substitution. The improvement in the cell efficiency with Sn2+-substituted ZnO photoelectrodes is attributed to the considerably large surface area of the nanopowders for dye adsorption, efficient charge separation and the suppression of charge recombination provided by SnO. Furthermore, the energy distinction between the conduction band edges of SnO and ZnO implied a type II band alignment. Moreover, the durability as well as the stability of 15 assembled cells were studied to show the outstanding long-term stability of the devices made of Sn2+ ion substituted ZnO, and the PCE of each cell remained stable and â¼96% of its primary value was retained for up to 100 h. Subsequently, the efficacy was drastically reduced to â¼35% after 250 h of storage.
