Nb₂O₅ based photoanode for dye sensitized solar cells applications

We have studied the comparable variation of electron behaviour within the DSSCs and its output performance for chemically prepared bare Nb₂O₅, TiO₂-P25 Degussa and bilayer TiO₂/Nb₂O₅ photoanode which were all fabricated using N3 dye. This Nb₂O₅ layer is also act as blocking layer over TiO₂ in bilayer structure for DSSCs. Deposition of Nb₂O₅ layer on TiO₂ film improves the efficiency of DSSCs. The effect of Nb₂O₅ over TiO₂ by making bilayer structure shows enhancement in current density value up to 10.28 mA/cm₂. The TiO₂/Nb₂O₅ based solar cell shows ~ 49% increment in current density as compare to TiO₂. The maximum efficiency of 5.26 % and 73 % EQE was yield for DSSC based on the TiO₂/Nb₂O₅ bilayer photoanode sensitized with N3 dye. (author)