N/Al-Incorporated TiO2 Nanocompositesfor Improved Device Performance of aDye-Sensitized Solar Cell

We report application of aluminium co-doped with nitrogen titania nanocomposite (Al/N-TiO2) prepared by hydrothermal method as photoanode for very efficient dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The Al/N-TiO2 nano-composites are characterized by spectral viz. UV-visible, XRD, FTIR, XPS techniques. TEM, SEM, EDX and BET are used to obtain their particle size, morphology and surface area. The DSSC with Al/N co-doped TiO2 as photoanode and N719 sensitizer dye exhibited an overall light conversion efficiency of 6.24%, which is much improved compared to that of un-modified TiO2 (1.69%) under 100 mW/cm(2) light irradiation. The improved efficiency with Al/N co-doped TiO2 is attributed to greater dye loading, increased surface area, rapid interfacial charge transfer, slow charge recombination and strong red shift of light absorption in the visible region as compared with un-doped TiO2. The effect of the Al concentration on the current density is studied and optimum Al concentration with N-doped TiO(2)is observed to be 1.0 mole%. The work establishes that the as prepared Al/N co-doped TiO(2)is impending photoanode material for low-cost and high-efficiency DSSC.