Increase in efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells by porous TiO2 layer modification with gadolinium-containing thin layer

Modified with gadolinium-containing layer, nanoporous titania electrode and its application in dye-sensitized solar cells were reported. The electrode prepared was characterized with UV-Vis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The amount of gadolinium was measured with inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) experiments. The modified electrode showed reduced N3 dye adsorption ability, but increased light conversion efficiency in comparison with the non-modified electrode. The overall conversion efficiencies, determined under 400 W/m(2) irradiation with tungsten-halogen lamp at room temperature, were 0.55% for non-modified and 0.74% for modified electrodes.