Effect of Photoanode Modification with Rare-Earth Metal Oxides on DSSC Performance

Modification of DSSC photoanodes by adding various types of materials is a widely used method to improve the performance of electrochemical devices. In this work, selected rare-earth oxide (RE2O3) nanoparticles, such as erbium oxide (Er2O3), holmium oxide (Ho2O3), neodymium oxide (Nd2O3), and ytterbium oxide (Yb2O3), were applied for photoanode preparation. A simple method for photoanode fabrication based on the direct mixing of oxide nanoparticles with TiO2 paste was employed. The effect of variation in the rare-earth oxide content in the photoanode was investigated. The prepared composite photoanodes were characterized by XRD and FE-SEM for structural and morphological studies. XRD verified the anatase polymorph of TiO2; FE-SEM with EDS mapping validated the uniform morphology of the anode and the distribution of RE2O3, as well as its amount. The photovoltaic parameters of modified DSSCs based on the current-voltage measurements were analyzed.