Down-converting lanthanide doped TiO2 photoelectrodes for efficiency enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cells

Down-converting lanthanide doped TiO2 photoelectrodes for efficiency enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cells: "Publication year: 2011
Source: Journal of Power Sources, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 21 February 2011
H., Hafez , M., Saif , M.S.A., Abdel-Mottaleb
Lanthanide (Ln3+) doped TiO2 down-conversion photoelectrodes (Ln3+=Eu3+ and Sm3+ ions) are used to enhance the photovoltaic efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). We report on achieving fill factors of 0.67 and 0.69 and efficiencies of 5.81% and 5.16% for Sm3+ and Eu3+ respectively. This is compared to the 4.23% efficiency for the undoped-titania photoelectrodes. This enhancement is probably due to the improved UV radiation harvesting via a down-conversion luminescence process by the lanthanide ions. The ?structure, optical and photoluminescence properties of the down-converting photoelectrode are characterized by X-ray diffraction? (?XRD?),? scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and room..."