Solar Photovoltaics
Among various photovoltaic technologies, third generation solar cells such as dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC), quantum dot sensitized solar cell (QDSSC), perovskite solar cells are the most promising renewable and sustainable energy solutions for clean electricity production at very low cost and in the diffused radiation environment. The performance of the DSSC/QDSSC mainly depends on the dye/quantum dot sensitized photoanode, counter electrode and the electrolyte. At a closer inspection it is evident that the performance of the this generation solar cell mainly depends on the dye/quantum dot sensitized photoanode.
Titania, Zinc Oxide, Tin Oxide, etc. are the most widely used semiconductor metal oxide as photoanodes. However, the overall photoconversion efficiency of the above metal oxide is limited due to low surface area /poor charge transport/inappropriate band edge positions. The performance of the photoanode can be engineered in various ways and our group is focused on the following methods for improving the overall performance of the solar cell.
Metal Oxide heterojunction
Heterojunction and its types have a major role in controlling the charge separation and transport. Taking advantage of this, our group is developing/developed highly effective multiphasic homo-heterojunction composites for efficient photoanodes for solar cell applications.
Plasmonic Metal Oxide heterojunction
Surface plasmon enhanced photoanode is one of the most emerging techniques to improve the photon absorption, charge carrier separation and charge transport. Looking at the improved optical properties of the metal-semiconductor junction, our group is developing/developed highly effective multiphasic plasmonic homo/heterojunction composites for efficient photoanodes for solar cell applications.
Significant Publications
P Ningthoukhongjam, M Bhagavathiachari, RG Nair. "Effect of anatase-rutile phase ratio of titania photoanode on photoelectrochemical performance and photoconversion efficiency." Optical Materials 127(2022), 112269. (Q2, IF:-3.7)
A Das, RG Nair. "Fabrication of In2O3 functionalized ZnO based nanoheterojunction photoanode for improved DSSC performance through effective interfacial charge carrier separation." Optical Materials 122(2021), 111784. (Q2, IF:-3.7)
Significant Publications
Nair, Ranjith G., Swapna Ojah, P. Mathan Kumar, S. K. Nikhil, and S. K. Samdarshi. "Role of copper and silver modified titania photoanode on performance engineering of dye sensitized solar cells." Materials Letters 221 (2018): 313-317.(Q2, IF:-3.6)
Metal Oxide Nanostructures
Surface area and morphology of the semiconductor plays a major role in controlling the dye absorption and charge transport of the photoanode. Taking advantage of this, our group is developing/developed highly effective morphologically tuned multiphasic homo-heterojunction composites for efficient photoanodes for solar cell applications.
Theoretical modelling of solar cells
The performance of a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) mainly depends on specific surface area, dye loading, pore-volume, thickness of the semiconductor layer, and electron lifetime. The optimization of these set of parameters is crucial in obtaining the best performance. The experimental optimization of the above parameters is often expensive and time consuming. Keeping this in mind our group is developing different mathematical models for obtaining the optimized parameters.
Significant Publications
Nikhil, S. K., Abinash Das, Muthuraaman Bhagavathiachari, and Ranjith G. Nair. "Effect of aspect ratio of c-axis oriented ZnO nanorods on photoelectrochemical performance and photoconversion efficiency." Optical Materials 121 (2021): 111551. (Q2, IF:-3.7)
Das, Abinash, Riu Riu Wary, and Ranjith G. Nair. "Cu modified ZnO nanoflakes: An efficient visible light-driven photocatalyst and a promising photoanode for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC)." Solid State Sciences 104 (2020): 106290. (Q2, IF:-3.7)
Significant Publications
Soumik Chakraborty, Ranjith G Nair, Lalu Seban, Development and validation of an improved model for Dye-sensitized solar cell and estimation of the optimum design parameters for maximum performance, Optik, 270 (2022) 170012. (Q2, IF:-2.4)