A comparative study of Be and Mg ions adsorbed on TiO2 photoelectrodes on interfacial charge recombination in solar cells

The dye sensitized solar cell with Be2+(15)-TiO2/FTO, which was prepared by soaking bare TiO2/FTO in a beryllium sulfate solution for 15 min, showed approximately 14% enhancement in power conversion efficiency (PCE) compared with that of the reference cell with bare TiO2/FTO due to an increase in the short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor. In contrast, a slight improvement (6.8%) in PCE was observed in the device with Mg2+(15)-TiO2/FTO. As a result, the Be2+-modified TiO2 electrode is a better choice than its Mg2+-modified counterpart for increasing the PCE.