Effect of Ti1−xFexO2 photoanodes on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells utilizing natural betalain pigments extracted from Beta vulgaris (BV)

Abstract

In order to enhance the performance and stability of the naturally occurring dye-based DSSCs, various engineered photoanodes were employed. In this study, Fe-doped TiO₂ nanorod (NR) based photoanodes were synthesized on transparent conducting fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) electrodes with the different concentrations of Fe (Ti_1−xFe_xO₂, x = 0–0.1) by a simple and economical hydrothermal method. The impact of Fe doping on the physicochemical and electrical characteristics of Ti_1−xFe_xO₂ photoanodes was investigated. The effect of Ti_1−xFe_xO₂ photoanodes in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) setup utilizing a natural dye extracted from Beta vulgaris (BV) was analyzed. The photovoltaic performance of the fabricated device using Ti_1−xFe_xO₂ NRs is tested by current density–voltage (J–V) and incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) characteristics to estimate the power conversion efficiency (PCE). The maximum photocurrent density of the DSSC device increased from 80 to 129.758 μA cm⁻², whereas the PCE enhanced nearly twice from 0.26% to 0.52% with the insertion of 5 at% Fe in TiO₂ NRs. The experimental result demonstrates that the charge injection and separation are significantly improved by the Ti_1−xFe_xO₂ interlayer. We predict that Ti_1−xFe_xO₂ photoanodes with improved responsiveness can replace the pure TiO₂ nanostructures for promising photovoltaic applications. In addition to photovoltaics, these Ti_1−xFe_xO₂ photoanodes may serve as an encouraging approach for photocatalysis and photo sensors.