TiO 2 –SrTiO 3 composite photoanode: effect of strontium precursor concentration on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells

We report herein a detailed study on the influence of Sr precursor (strontium chloride hexahydrate) concentration on the properties of TiO 2 –SrTiO 3 composite film and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) performance. TiO 2 –SrTiO 3 composite film has successfully been fabricated by two steps of LPD-hydrothermal method for which the prepared TiO 2 acted as a Ti source for SrTiO 3 . Besides anatase, SrTiO 3 phase with cubic structure is detected from the XRD spectra confirming the formation of TiO 2 –SrTiO 3 film composite. The detection of the peak of Sr element from EDX and Raman shift at the peak of 436 cm − 1 , 554 cm − 1 and 799 cm − 1 further confirms the existence of the SrTiO 3 coated on TiO 2 . TiO 2 –SrTiO 3 composite film with Sr precursor optimum concentration 0.1 M depicts the highest performance of the DSSC with the η = 1.71 ± 0.21%, V oc = 0.58 ± 0.22 V and J sc = 9.1 ± 2.1 mA/cm 2 due to superior lights scattering and highest dye loading. Facile charge transfer was observed by increasing the Sr content due to inhibition of recombination process. Combining TiO 2 with SrTiO 3 in composite form at the optimum Sr precursor concentration is found as an effective way of enhancing the efficiency of the device.