Influence of obtaining method of Nb2O5 particles used in dye sensitized solar cells consisting of TiO2/Nb2O5

Abstract

The niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) is a semiconductor capable of prevent the efficiency loss by recombination in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) given the high energy gap. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of DSSC containing Nb2O5 obtained by Pechini method and hydrothermal synthesis, mixed with TiO2 nanoparticles. The characterization techniques used were X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DSL) and potentiodynamic polarization under power light incidence of 100 mWcm-2. XRD confirmed obtaining orthorhombic structure niobium pentoxide tested for both methodologies, the SEM showed the best distribution of the oxide obtained by hydrothermal synthesis efficiency was calculated from the current density-potential curves (j-v) confirming the higher efficiency for this sample, about 20%higher.