Photoelectric Response from Nanofibous Membranes
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PHOTOELECTRIC RESPONSE FROM NANOFIBOUS MEMBRANES Kris J. Senecal1, David P. Ziegler1, Jinan He, Ravi Mosurkal, Heidi Schreuder-Gibson1, Lynne A. Samuelson1 Depts. of Chemistry and Physics, Center for Advanced Materials, University of Massachusetts- Lowell Lowell, MA 01854 1 U.S. Army SBCCOM, NSC Materials Science Team, Kansas Street Natick, MA 01760 ABSTRACT Electrospinning has been used to prepare nanofibrous composite membranes of semiconducting particles (TiO2) and photovoltaic dyes. Electrospinning is a relatively simple technique where electrical forces are used on polymeric solutions to produce nanoscale fibers. The resulting nanofibrous membranes have surface areas that are roughly one to two orders of magnitude higher than conventional thin films. It is believed that this higher surface will allow for more efficient light harvesting in photovoltaic devices. Our research has focused on the fabrication of organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells featuring dye sensitized nanocrystalline semiconductor particles using electrospinning. Phthalocyanine and N3 (cisdi(thiocyanato)bis(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylate) ruthenium(II)) photoactive dyes were electrospun with semi-conductive TiO2 nanoparticles into a matrix polymer, polyacrylonitrile (PAN). Electron microscopy and elemental analysis of the electrospun membranes shows that each component is present and uniformly dispersed in the nanofibrous membranes. In general, the dye membranes electrospun with the TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited a greater photoelectric response than the membranes with dye only. The N3 dye membranes however showed the greatest photoresponse in comparison to the phthalocyanine dyes, with or without the TiO2 nanoparticles. Photoelectric responses on the order of 30 µA and 280 mV were achieved with dye-sensitized membranes and are believed to be the first demonstration of a photoelectric response from an electrospun nanofibrous membrane. INTRODUCTION Electrospinning has been described as a process driven by electrical forces of free charges on the surface or inside of a polymeric liquid to produce nanoscale fibers. These charges, generally ions, move in response to the electric field, transferring a force to the polymeric liquid. Spinning of fiber occurs when the electrical forces at the surface of a polymer solution overcome the surface tension causing an electrical jet to be ejected. As the jet dries or solidifies, charged fibers remain [1-4]. Continuous electrospinning results in porous, high surface area membrane structures of controlled thickness depending on the duration of spinning. Electrospinning, in our case has been used to develop nanofibrous composite membranes of semi-conducting and photoelectric materials, taking advantage of the high surface area to produce a solar capture membrane.
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In this paper we describe the first use of electrospinning (Figure 1) as a processing technique to integrate the components of these dye-sensitized solar cell devices into high + kV surface area, conformal and nanofibrous Figure 1. Electrospi
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