Surface thulium-doped TiO2 nanoparticles used as photoelectrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells: improving the open-circuit voltage

Abstract

This study presents the incorporation of thulium oxide onto the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles, which were used as the photoelectrode in dye-sensitized solar cells. The Tm-TiO2-based semiconductors were widely characterized using techniques such as atomic emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, UV–Vis spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The presence of a Tm oxide on the surface was confirmed, and neither the crystalline phases present nor the band gap of TiO2 were affected. In turn, the presence of Tm3+ resulted in new electronic transitions, which led to luminescence processes in the Tm-TiO2 semiconductors. Furthermore, the use of these semiconductors as photoelectrodes in DSSCs led to an increase in open-circuit voltage of up to 6 %. This increase can be reasonably explained by the negative shift of the flat-band potential of the photoelectrodes.