In situ synthesis, enhanced luminescence and application in dye sensitized solar cells of Y(2)O(3)/Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) nanocomposites by reduction of Y(2)O(3):Eu(3+)

Y(2)O(3)/Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) nanocomposites were successfully prepared by reducing Y(2)O(3):Eu(3+) nanocrystals. The obtained Y(2)O(3)/Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) nanocomposites not only can emit enhanced red luminescence excited at 338 nm, but also can be used to improve the efficiency of the dye sensitized solar cells, resulting an efficiency of 8.38%, which is a noticeable enhancement of 12% compared to the cell without Y(2)O(3)/Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) nanocomposites. The results of the incident photon to current, dynamic light scattering, and diffuse reflectance spectra indicated that the enhancement of the cell efficiency was mainly related to the light scattering effect of Y(2)O(3)/Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) nanocomposites. As a phosphor powder, the emission at ~615 nm of Y(2)O(3)/Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) was split into two sub-bands. Compared with Y(2)O(3):Eu(3+), the (5)D(0) → (7)F(0) and (5)D(0) → (7)F(1) emissions of Y(2)O(3)/Y(2)O(2)S:Eu(3+) showed a little red-shift.