Plasmonic gold nanoparticle incorporated MgO-coated SnO2 photoanode for efficiency enhancement in dye-sensitized solar cells

Facile Synthesis of a Multifunctional SnO2 Nanoparticles/Nanosheets Composite for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have attracted tremendous interest over the past decade and have shown significant promise for practical photovoltaic applications owing to their low cost and effective photovoltaic performance. − Since the first study on mesoporous titania-based photoanode films was published in 1991, numerous studies on DSCs have been conducted. To date, efficiencies of more than 12% have been achieved by using a mesoporous film of sintered TiO 2 nanoparticles as the photoanode. , In addition to the frequently used TiO 2 , alternative semiconductors with broad band gaps, such as SnO 2 , , ZnO, , Nb 2 O 5 , , and Zn 2 SnO 4 , , are also being investigated. Among them, SnO 2 is one of the promising and reliable candidates for DSCs due to its wide band gap (3.62 eV) and high electron mobility (100–200 cm 2 V –1 s –1 ) compared to TiO 2 . − Such exceptional features make it favorable for electron transfer within the photoanode film, thereby improving the photoconversion efficiency of the DSCs.…”

“…Among them, SnO 2 is one of the promising and reliable candidates for DSCs due to its wide band gap (3.62 eV) and high electron mobility (100–200 cm 2 V –1 s –1 ) compared to TiO 2 . − Such exceptional features make it favorable for electron transfer within the photoanode film, thereby improving the photoconversion efficiency of the DSCs. However, charge trapping that occurs at the grain boundaries during charge transport through the disordered SnO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) would inevitably result in the scattering of free electrons and reduction of carrier mobility in the SnO 2 photoanode film. − As a promising alternative to zero-dimensional (0D) nanostructures, two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets are of particular interest in performance enhancement for DSCs, since the nanostructures favor electron transport through direct pathways. − However, the efficiency of 2D SnO 2 nanostructures is still relatively low because the improved electron transport characteristic is never large enough to offset the impact of the sacrificed accessible surface area. Indeed, it is challenging to produce a highly efficient photoanode with a single morphology and/or component, since it is hard to simultaneously integrate the required prerequisites, i.e., high specific surface area, outstanding light scattering, and fast electron transport qualities.…”

“…To date, efficiencies of more than 12% have been achieved by using a mesoporous film of sintered TiO 2 nanoparticles as the photoanode. 4 , 5 In addition to the frequently used TiO 2 , alternative semiconductors with broad band gaps, such as SnO 2 , 6 , 7 ZnO, 8 , 9 Nb 2 O 5 , 10 , 11 and Zn 2 SnO 4 , 12 , 13 are also being investigated. Among them, SnO 2 is one of the promising and reliable candidates for DSCs due to its wide band gap (3.62 eV) and high electron mobility (100–200 cm 2 V –1 s –1 ) compared to TiO 2 .…”