Effect of cerium ion modifications on the photoelectrochemical properties of TiO2-based dye-sensitized solar cells

Several different quantities of Ce/TiO2 materials were synthesized in the same condition by a wet method. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated by using porous Ce/TiO2 film electrodes derived from P25 nanoparticles. Various techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscope and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller are used to characterize the products. The short-circuit current density and photo-electric conversion efficiency reach optimum values: 13.87 mA cm−2 and 7.00% respectively when the amount of Ce(NO3)3·6H2O is 0.050 g/1 g P25, which may be attributed to better transportation of electrons and more adsorption of dyes and sunlight.