Application of doped rare-earth oxide TiO₂:(Tm³⁺, Yb³⁺) in dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Tm 3+ and Yb 3+ are codoped into TiO 2 film in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The emission and excitation spectra of TiO 2 :(Tm 3+ , Yb 3+ ) power shows that the rare-earth ions possess up-conversion luminescence function, which results in harvesting more incident light and increasing photocurrent for the DSSC. On the other hand, owing to the p-type doping effect by Tm 3+ and Yb 3+ , the photovoltage of the DSSC is enhanced. Under a simulated solar light irradiation of 100 mW·cm −2 , a DSSC containing Tm 3+ /Yb 3+ achieves a conversion efficiency of 7.05 %, which is increased by 10.0% compared with a DSSC lacking Tm 3+ /Yb 3+ .