Zinc-doped SnO2 nanocrystals as photoanode materials for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Xiaochao Li, Qingjiang Yu, Cuiling Yu, Yuewu Huang, Renzhi Li, Jinzhong Wang, Fengyun Guo, Yong Zhang, Shiyong Gao, Liancheng Zhao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

47 Scopus citations

Abstract

Zn-doped SnO2 nanocrystals were successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. It is found that Zn doping into SnO2 can induce a negative shift in the flat-band potential (VFB) and increase the isoelectric point. As a result, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) based on Zn-doped SnO2 nanocrystal photoanodes exhibit longer electron lifetimes and higher dye loading compared to undoped SnO2 based DSCs. The overall power conversion efficiency (η) of the optimized Zn-doped SnO2 based DSC reaches 4.18% and increases to 7.70% after the TiCl4 treatment. More importantly, a remarkable η of 8.23% is achieved for DSCs based on a high-quality double-layer SnO2 photoanode with the TiCl4 treatment, to the best of our knowledge, which is so far the best reported efficiency for DSCs based on SnO2 photoanodes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8076-8082
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume3
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Apr 2015
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Zinc-doped SnO2 nanocrystals as photoanode materials for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this