Performance evaluation of DSSC’s fabricated employing TiO2 and TiO2-ZnO nanocomposite as the photoanodes

Abstract

TiO2 nano particles and TiO2-ZnO nano composites were synthesized using solution combustion approach. The synthesized TiO2 nano metaloxide and TiO2-ZnO nano composites were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and UV analysis. Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC’s) were fabricated by coating the photoanodes with the synthesized nanomaterials employing doctor blade technique. The performance of DSSC fabricated using TiO2 nanoparticles was compared with the one which was prepared using TiO2-ZnO nano composite. The photoanode of DSSC coated with nanocomposite showed a lower efficiency but commensurate band gap values when compared with the DSSC fabricated using pure TiO2 nano particles.