Synthesis and characterisation of SnO2 nanostructures for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Tin Oxide (SnO2) is a wide band gap n-type semiconducting material having good chemical stability, electrical and optical properties. SnO2 nanostructures were prepared by surfactant assisted solvothermal technique at different pH conditions and used as n-type layer for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) fabrication. Herein we report the characterization of SnO2 nanostructures by various techniques like Fourier-transform Infra Red spectroscopy (FT-IR), Ultra - Violet and Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Photoluminescence (PL), Powder X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). SnO2 prepared at pH - 8 and 10 were used for the fabrication of DSSC and the efficiency was relatively higher at pH 8.