Photovoltaic Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell by Modification of Photoanode With PbTiO3–ZnFe2O4/TiO2 Nanofibers

Abstract

This study investigates the photovoltaic performance of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by modification of the photoanode with PbTiO $_{\text{3}}$ –ZnFe $_{\text{2}}$ O $_{\text{4}}$ /TiO $_{\text{2}}$ nanofibers to enhance the current density and photovoltaic conversion efficiency ( $\eta \text{)}$ . PbTiO $_{\text{3}}$ –ZnFe $_{\text{2}}$ O $_{\text{4}}$ /TiO $_{\text{2}}$ nanofibers are prepared by electrospinning and used as a 1-D nanostructured scattering layer. There are two methods to modify photoanodes. One is a mixture of PbTiO $_{\text{3}}$ –ZnFe $_{\text{2}}$ O $_{\text{4}}$ /TiO $_{\text{2}}$ nanofibers into a TiO $_{\text{2}}$ layer of photoanode. The other is to attach flake-like PbTiO $_{\text{3}}$ –ZnFe $_{\text{2}}$ O $_{\text{4}}$ /TiO $_{\text{2}}$ nanofibers onto the TiO $_{\text{2}}$ layer of the photoanode. The DSSCs with the two kinds of modified photoanodes are compared with the DSSC without modification. This result represents that the DSSC with the modified photoanode, in which flake-like PbTiO $_{\text{3}}$ –ZnFe $_{\text{2}}$ O $_{\text{4}}$ /TiO $_{\text{2}}$ nanofibers are cemented onto the TiO $_{\text{2}}$ layer, has the highest photovoltaic conversion efficiency ( $\eta \text{)}$ of 5.87%, while the photovoltaic conversion efficiency ( $\eta \text{)}$ of the DSSC without modification is only 4.17%. The improved DSSC photovoltaic performance can be attributed to two main factors: a large amount of N719 adsorbed on the large surface area of PbTiO $_{\text{3}}$ –ZnFe <inline-formula...