Investigating the Influence of Lithium Intercalation on Dispersive Electron Mobility Kinetics in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Dye-Sensitized solar cells provide an inexpensive technology to harvest solar energy. However the multiple kinetic processes and the influence of various parameters, such as lithium intercalation, on these kinetics are still not fully understood. This study uses accessible instrumentation and materials to examine the electron mobility kinetics within the TiO2 nanoparticle film. Lithium intercalation into these films and how it affects the dispersive electron transport kinetics are of particular interest. We determined that population of the trap states in the conduction band can be characterized using the generalized logistic growth function. We also investigated the depopulation of the aforementioned trap states and our evidence suggests that devices with Li+ do not depopulate as easily or as much as devices without Li+.