Nanoporous SnO2 electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells: improved cell performance by the synthesis of 18 nm SnO2 colloids

This paper reports on the synthesis of SnO2 18 nm diameter colloidal suspension for the fabrication of nanoporous electrodes. The new suspension allows the fabrication of thick and homogeneous electrodes by simple one layer spreading; in contrast to the successive spin coating of the commonly used commercial suspension that results in a thin inhomogeneous electrode. When used in dye-sensitized solar cells, the new electrodes increase the light-to-energy conversion efficiency by a factor of 2.1 in comparison with standard commercial suspension based electrodes. The improvement is mostly the result of an increase of the photocurrent. This increase is attributed to the better electrolyte migration, and presumably also to an increase of the photoinjected electron diffusion rate in the electrode.