Synthesis and photovoltaic property characterization of CeO2 film deposited on ITO substrate for dye sensitized solar cell

Abstract

The photoanodes of the dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) were designed using nanocrystalline cerium oxide (CeO2) film. In this study the CeO2 photoanodes were obtained on ITO substrate using two different growth times such as 12 and 24 h by hydrothermal process. The prepared photoanodes and their characteristic performances towards solar energy conversion to electric power have been investigated. The grown photoanodes exhibited the cubic fluorite crystal structure with (1 1 1), (2 0 0), (2 2 0), (3 1 1) and (4 0 0) planes and the corresponding selected area electron diffraction ring pattern of the HR-TEM confirms the growth of high purity nanocrystalline CeO2 films. The room temperature LASER Raman spectrum indicates the formation of cubic phase at 456 cm−1, the Raman active F2g band. From HR-SEM analysis agglomerated sphere particles in Ce-24 h and individual spherical particles in Ce-12 h infers the degree of super saturation which plays an important role in crystal nucleation and growth time. The DSSC assembled with dye sensitized CeO2 photoanodes have shown 1.201 and 0.931% of conversion efficiency at 1Sun (100 mW/cm2) AM1.5G solar illumination for Ce-12 h and Ce-24 h samples respectively. In our study the Ce-12 h photoanode exhibit efficiency greater than Ce-24 h due to increased dye absorption over the CeO2 nanoparticle surface.