Nanocrystalline Sb-doped-BaSnO < inf > 3 < /inf > perovskite electron transport layer for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Undoped and Sb-doped BaSn(1-x)SbxO3 (x = 0, 0.01 and 0.03) perovskite nanoparticles are synthesized using a facile peroxide-precipitate method and annealed at 900 °C for 2 h in air. Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data indicates single-phase cubic structure which also corroborates with transmission electron microscopy data. Reduction in reflectance intensity and optical bandgap is observed with Sb-doping. Dye-sensitized solar cell fabricated using nanocrystalline BaSn(1-x)SbxO3 at x = 0.01 as electron transport layer shows maximum power conversion efficiency of 4.06% and short-circuit current density of 9.97 mAcm−2, substantiating the electrochemical impedance data.