Nanocrystalline Antimony Oxide Films for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Applications

A new photoelectrode composed of Sb6O13 nanoparticles with the size of 20-30 nm has been prepared via thermolysis of a colloidal antimony pentoxide tetrahydrate (Sb2O5 center dot 4H(2)O) suspension. The Sb6O13 electrode showed good semiconducting properties applicable to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs); the energy band gap was estimated to be 3.05 +/- 0.5 eV and the position of conduction band edge was close to those of TiO2 and ZnO. The DSSC assembled with the Sb6O13 photoelectrode and a conventional ruthenium-dye (N719) exhibited the overall photo-current conversion efficiency of 0.74% (V-oc = 0.76 V, J(sc) = 1.99 mAcm(-2), fill factor = 0.49) under AM 1.5, 100 mWcm(-2) illumination.