Material characteristics and electrochemical performance of Sn-doped ZnO spherical-particle photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of Sn element on the characteristics and electrochemical properties of ZnO spherical-particle used as dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) photoanode. Spherical nanoparticles were synthesized via a polyol mediated precipitation method and four concentrations of Sn-Zn = 0, 3, 4, and 5 wt.% of photoelectrodes were prepared. Their structures, morphologies, photovoltaic performances and electrochemical properties were studied through XRD, SEM, TEM, J-V, IPCE and EIS. It was observed that the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells increased with the addition of Sn element and the SZO4 (Sn-Zn =4 wt.%) based DSSC had the highest power energy conversion efficiency of 0.80%, which is greatly increased compared to that of the DSSC based on ZnO (0.28%). (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.