Study of N–Ag–Zn/TiO2, N–Ag–Zr/TiO2 with N719 and P3OT co-sensitization effect on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cell

Abstract

Nanocrystal N–Zn/TiO2 and N–Zr/TiO2 anode films were prepared using TiCl4 as raw material and doping Zn and Zr on the N/TiO2. Furthermore, Ag was loaded on the nanocrystal N–Zn/TiO2 and N–Zr/TiO2 anode films by photodeposition technology in which AgNO3 solution was irradiated by UV light. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscope, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements were performed, which show Zn are doped into TiO2 and Ag are loaded on N–Zn/TiO2 anode film successfully. The cyclic voltammetry results show that the composite dye P3OT/N719 has a higher LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) and has a better performance of the DSSCs (dye-sensitized solar cells) based on N–Ag–Zr/TiO2 anode film. In addition, when the DSSCs assembled with anode film, the photoelectric conversion efficiency was increased to 4.11 %.