Efficient dye-sensitised solar cell based on uniform In-doped TiO2 spherical particles

A facile deposition of uniform photoanode electrodes by a novel anatase-stabilised gel for dye-sensitised solar cells (DSCs) applications is reported. Highly crystalline anatase-TiO2 phase is stabilised by indium nitrate at 500 A degrees C. The electrodes are composed of uniform spherical particles with diameter around 3 A mu m, containing small nanoparticles with the average grain size of 40 nm, deposited by dip-coating method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that 6 at.% In3+ was incorporated into titania crystal lattice and stabilised anatase phase by limiting the transformation from anatase to rutile phase. UV-Visible spectra show that the stabilised film has lower band gap energy than that of undoped TiO2, extending the absorption of TiO2 into visible region. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy demonstrates that the anatase-stabilised DSC enjoys less recombination and internal resistances, improving the photovoltaic performance of the cell. The anatase-stabilised DSC has higher power conversion efficiency of 7.48 % than that of unstabilised cell (6.37 %).