Increases in solar conversion efficiencies of the ZrO(2 )nanofiber-doped TiO(2 )photoelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

In this paper, in order to improve the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells, we introduced zirconia [ZrO(2)] nanofibers into a mesoporous titania [TiO(2)] photoelectrode. The photoelectrode consists of a few weight percent of ZrO(2 )nanofibers and a mesoporous TiO(2 )powder. The mixed ZrO(2 )nanofibers and the mesoporous TiO(2 )powder possessed a larger surface area than the corresponding mesoporous TiO(2 )powder. The optimum ratio of the ZrO(2 )nanofiber was 5 wt.%. The 5 wt.% ZrO(2)-mixed device could get a short-circuit photocurrent density of 15.9 mA/cm(2), an open-circuit photovoltage of 0.69 V, a fill factor of 0.60, and a light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 6.5% under irradiation of AM 1.5 (100 mW/cm(2)).