Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have received much attention as an alternative to silicon-based solar cells, due to various advantages. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an n-type semiconductor employed as photoanode on DSSC. The decrease of charge recombination is an efficient strategy capable of improving the photovoltaic performance of the device. In this perspective, Nb 2 O 5 was added on ZnO solar cells. The oxides were characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The photovoltaic parameters were obtained through J-V plots and photocronoamperometry. The results showed that the niobium oxide obtained presented orthorhombic crystal structure and DSSC with the addition of niobium oxide showed better efficiency, of 1.42% when compared the device with only ZnO.

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Hybrid solar cells show an increasing number in researches due to its low cost and easy of production. They are composed by and organic material and a semiconductor oxide. The aim of this paper was to synthesis and characterize zinc oxide by coprecipitation and apply it in a hybrid solar cell that uses a P3HT/P3OT copolymer as charge carrier. The cell was assembled in "sandwich" form using FTO/ ZnO/P3HT-P3OT as work electrode, (Pt/FTO) as conter electrode and I/I-3 redox couple as electrolyte. Through the X-ray diffractogram the formation of a single ZnO wutzite hexagonal phase was observed. The morphology obtained for the oxide was spherical. The results of photochronoamperometry showed current density values of jP3HT/P3OT =0.55 mA.cm-2 for the cell in the presence of the copolymer and the curve jxV showed an efficiency of 0.16% for the studied cell, demonstrating that the polymer was a satisfactory sensitizer.

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