Formation of hybrid heterostructures for energy harvesting applications

In an attempt to identify solutions to advance net-zero energy activities and accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge low-carbon technologies, hybrid approaches for solar energy harvesting and engineering materials have been developed. In this study, two different forms of TiO₂were synthesized and applied as electron transport layers (ETL) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In addition, double-doped sputtered NiO was used and the fabricated NiO/TiO₂heterostructures were examined for their photocatalytic activities against the decolorization of methylene blue (MB). The two forms of TiO₂were the one-dimensional (1D) TiO₂nanorods (TiO₂-NRs), synthesized using a hydrothermal technique, and the three-dimensional (3D) mesoporous TiO₂(m-TiO₂) synthesized by spin-coating. The PSC formed by the 1D TiO₂-NRs as ETL showed the same open-circuit voltage under solar illumination but twice the short-circuit current when compared to the PSC having the conventional m-TiO₂as ETL. The photocatalytic activity of the 1D NiO/TiO₂-NRs heterostructure was 23 wt% faster than the respective 3D NiO/TiO₂one, while inducing about 83 wt% more MB degradation. These effects were attributed to the different effective surface areas and the diode properties of the NiO/TiO₂heterostructures. The presented results provide a direct comparison between heterostructures synthesized via hybrid routes for optoelectronic applications in the fields of energy harvesting and photocatalysis.