Pulsed laser deposition method for fabrication of cds/tio2 and pbs photoelectrodes for solar energy application

Abstract

Titanium films sputtered on FTO glass were used for obtaining highly oriented titania nanotubes via anodization technique. Then, pulsed laser deposition of CdS was carried out for sensitizing of similar to 60 nm wide titania nanotubes by applying 50, 100, 150 or 200 subsequent laser pulses. Scanning electron microscopy was used to indicate which samples had the open nanotubular structure of titania preserved after the deposition of CdS. Energy dispersive spectroscopy showed that a higher number of applied laser pulses results in the increase of Cd and S quantity within samples. Pulsed laser deposition technique was also employed for the fabrication of PbS counter electrode. I-V characteristics of the photovoltaic cells consisting the obtained electrodes were measured and compared under one-sun illumination. The photovoltaic cell with photoanode sensitized with CdS by applying 150 laser pulses showed the highest current density and voltage among the investigated cell.