Based on Cu(II) silicotungstate modified photoanode with long electron lifetime and enhanced performance in dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract A new photoanode material, Cu(II) silicotungstate — K 6 SiW 11 O 39 Cu(H 2 O)·xH 2 O modified TiO 2 (SiW 11 Cu/TiO 2 ), has been successfully prepared by a combined hydrolysis and hydrothermal method. When SiW 11 Cu/TiO 2 is mixed with P25 powder in a weight ratio of 1:9 as a photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cell, an improved power conversion efficiency of 7.90% is achieved, significantly higher than that of the cell using P25 as a photoanode (6.16%). The results show that the lifetime and the injection ability of electrons are improved after the modification of the photoanode. The large improvement in device performance is ascribed to the decrease of the charge carrier recombination and the enhanced injection ability of electrons. Furthermore, the introduction of SiW 11 Cu can synchronously extend the absorption to the visible region, which should also be beneficial to the increase of the device performance.