Fabrication of Core-Shell Structured TiO2/MgO Electrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

We demonstrated the construction and performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) based on nanoparticles of TiO2 coated with thin shells of MgO by simple solution growth technique. The XRD patterns confirm the presence of both TiO2 and MgO in the core-shell structure. The effect of varied shell thickness on the photovoltaic performance of the core-shell structured electrode is also investigated. We found that MgO shells of all thicknesses perform as barriers that improve open-circuit voltage (Voc) of the DSCs only at the expense of a larger decrease in short-circuit current density (Jsc). The energy conversion efficiency was greatly dependent on the thickness of MgO on TiO2 film, and the highest efficiency of 4.1% was achieved at the optimum MgO shell layer.