The influence of radio-frequency sputtered blocking layer on boosting the performance of BaSnO3-based dye-sensitized solar cell

The efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is limited by the recombination of electrons in fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) with the electrolyte species at the FTO/mesoporous semiconductor interface. This predicament can be addressed by employing a dense blocking layer (BL). Herein, we investigate the effects of BaSnO3 (BSO) thin film deposited by the radio-frequency sputtering method as a BL in BSO-based DSSCs. A range of thicknesses of up to 100 nm are examined, and it is shown that a thickness of similar to 50 nm is the optimum value for BL in BSO-based DSSCs. This BL can generate an efficiency enhancement of about 50% from 2.6% for bare BSO-based DSSC to 3.9% for the DSSC with a similar to 50 nm BL. This improvement is achieved by surpassing the recombination at the FTO/BSO interface and thus increasing the electron lifetime that results in a better photovoltaic performance.

Automated summary

The study investigated the efficiency enhancement of DSSCs using BaSnO3 thin film as BL, with 50nm thickness being the optimal value. The efficiency can be improved from 2.6% to 3.9% due to decreased electron recombination and increased electron lifetime at the FTO/BSO interface, resulting in better photovoltaic performance.