Enhancing the performance of dye-sensitized solar cell using nano-sized erbium oxide on titanium oxide photoanode by impregnation route

• Main Authors: S.H.A. Ahmad, Amir Al-Ahmed, Abbas Saeed Hakeem, Thamraa Alshahrani, Q. Mahmood, Umer Mehmood, H.A. Qayyum, Muhammad Younas, Muhammad Illyas, H. Dafalla, Rahila Jawaid, A. Laref, Anya Josefa Yago
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-09-01
• Series: Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology
• Subjects: Nanoparticles; Power; Photoanode; Light conversion; Erbium oxide; Solar cell
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666469021000324
• ISSN: 2666-4690

Modification of conventional photoanode with oxide nanoparticles is a practical tactic to improve the performance of electrochemical devices. In this study, erbium oxide (Er2O3) nanoparticles were mixed with the TiO2 paste and photovoltaic performance of the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was investigated. The highest power conversion efficiency of 6.39% was reached with the 1 wt.% of Er2O3 in photoanode, while in the similar condition the device with the pure TiO2 photoanode achieved the power conversion efficiency of 3.54%. This improvement in the power conversion efficiency was attributed to declining in charge recombination, improved open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current due to the presence of the critical amount of Er2O3. XPS analysis confirms the structural coherence between the Er2O3 and TiO2, which enhanced the optical performance of the composite photoanode. Composite photoanodes were further characterized by FESEM-EDX, XRD, and AFM for structural and morphological studies.