The effects on the photovoltaic performance of the incorporation
of SnO2 nanoparticles into the polymer of a solid-state
dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) based on the poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(ethylene
glycol) dimethyl ether solid electrolyte are studied in this paper.
It has been found that the addition of SnO2 nanoparticles
to the solid electrolyte produces several key changes in the properties
of the solid-state DSC that produced a better performance of the device.
Therefore, we have measured an improvement in electrolyte conductivity
by a factor of 2, a linear rise in the TiO2 conduction
band position, a reduction in the electron recombination rate, and
a decrease in charge-transfer resistance at the counterlectrode/electrolyte
interface. All these improvements produced an increase in the power
conversion efficiency from 4.5 to 5.3% at 1 sun condition, a consequence
of the increase of both V
oc (oc = open
circuit) and J
sc (sc = short circuit)
without any sacrifice in FF (fill factor). The origin
of these changes has been associated to the strong Lewis acidic character
of SnO2 nanoparticles yielding to the formation of a I3
– percolation layer for holes at the surface
of SnO2 and the reduction of the concentration of free
I3
– and K+ ions inside the
pores of TiO2. From these results, it is concluded that
the physicochemical effects of inorganic nanofiller in the polymer
electrolyte may also be considered a good route in designing the high
efficiency solid-state DSCs employing the polymer electrolyte.
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