Effect of Ce doping on the structural, optical, and photovoltaic properties of TiO2 based dye-sensitized solar cells
M.I. Khan, Abida Suleman, M.S. Hasan, S.S. Ali, Tahani I. Al‐Muhimeed, Abeer A. AlObaid, Munawar Iqbal, Maha M. Almoneef, Norah Alwadai
Abstract
In this research, the sol-gel technique has been used for the preparation of titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), 1% cerium doped titanium dioxide (Ce–TiO 2 ), 1% Ce–TiO 2 /TiO 2 , and TiO 2 /1% Ce–TiO 2 films. XRD pattern verified that all the films consist of TiO 2 anatase phases. The crystallite size of bilayer film is larger than that of a single deposited film. According to UV–Visible spectroscopy, the film Ce–TiO 2 /TiO 2 has low band gap energy (E g ) value of 3.28 eV. The DSSCs of these films are fabricated with N719 dye and iodide/tri-iodide electrolyte. Various parameters including short circuit current density , open circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency of the cells are determined through J-V curves. The results exhibited that 1% Ce–TiO 2 /TiO 2 film has achieved a maximum efficiency of about 3.08%.