Effects of Ce Ion-Modification on an Open Circuit Photovoltage Properties of ZnO Nanowires-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell.
We investigated the photoelectrochemical effects on Ce ion-modified ZnO nanowires for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), preparing four kinds of samples grown in solutions with 0, 1, 2, and 3 atomic percent (at%) of Ce precursors. It was found that Ce ion modifications lead to an increase in the lattice constant of ZnO nanowires, resulting in widening of their PL visible band and UV blueshift. I-V results tell that the photoelectrochemical properties increase in the order of 1, 2, 0, and 3 at% Ce ion-modified ZnO nanowire-based DSSCs. To further analyze and explain the experimental results, we measured absorbance, incident to photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE), and concluded that the DSSCs fabricated by using 3 at% Ce ion-modified ZnO nanowires exhibit the best device performances due to large VOC enhancements, suggesting that Ce ion modification leads to the VOC, changes of DSSCs, which can be explained by Burstein-Moss effect.
Seok Cheol
SC
Choi
Sang Ho
SH
Sohn