Improving photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells by doping SnO2 compact layer with potassium

SnO2 film doped with potassium has been fabricated by spin-coating technique on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass. The electrical properties of the SnO2 film are improved by introducing potassium, which is in favor of electrons transfer from TiO2 film to FTO glass. Meanwhile, the K-doped SnO2 compact layer is beneficial in suppressing the recombination effect between the FTO glass and the electrolyte. As a result, the short-circuit current density of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is enhanced from 15.20 mA cm(-2) to 17.48 mA cm(-2). Then, the highest power conversion efficiency is 7.84 % for the optimized DSSC based on the K-doped SnO2/TiO2 film, which is larger than those of the DSSCs based on TiO2 film (7.02 %) and non-doped SnO2/TiO2 film (7.18 %).

Automated summary

A potassium-doped SnO2 film was fabricated on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass using spin-coating technique. The introduction of potassium improved the electrical properties of the SnO2 film, facilitating electron transfer from TiO2 film to FTO glass. Additionally, the K-doped SnO2 compact layer effectively suppressed recombination effects between FTO glass and the electrolyte, resulting in an enhanced short-circuit current density and higher power conversion efficiency for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) compared to TiO2 and non-doped SnO2/TiO2 films.