Upconversion luminescence enhancement by Fe3+ doping in CeO2:Yb/Er nanomaterials and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells

Jingyi Bai; Pingping Duan; Xin Wang; Gui Han; Min Wang; Guowang Diao

doi:10.1039/d0ra02308f

Upconversion luminescence enhancement by Fe³⁺ doping in CeO₂:Yb/Er nanomaterials and their application in dye-sensitized solar cells

RSC Adv. 2020 May 19;10(32):18868-18874. doi: 10.1039/d0ra02308f. eCollection 2020 May 14.

Authors

Jingyi Bai¹, Pingping Duan¹, Xin Wang¹, Gui Han¹, Min Wang², Guowang Diao¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University Yangzhou 225002 PR China jybai@yzu.edu.cn gwdiao@yzu.edu.cn.
² Guangling College, Yangzhou University Yangzhou 225002 PR China.

Abstract

To make use of broad spectrum solar energy remains a main target in the photoelectrochemical area. Novel promising photoelectrode CeO₂:Fe/Yb/Er nanomaterials supported on upconversion nanomaterials doped with transition-metal ions are reported to improve broad spectrum absorption and scattering properties in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) for the first time. The results demonstrate that the materials have stronger upconversion luminescence than CeO₂:Yb/Er samples when the Fe³⁺ ion doping concentration is 2 mol% and 33.5% higher photoelectric conversion efficiency than a pure P25 electrode, which are attributed to the special light scattering properties and excellent dye adsorption capacity of the CeO₂:Fe/Yb/Er nanomaterials. Accordingly, doping Fe³⁺ transition metal ions in the upconversion material CeO₂:Yb/Er provides a new research idea for improving the photoelectric conversion efficiency of DSSCs.