A Study on Morphological Effect of Nano WO3 Particles for Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Application

Abstract

Tungsten oxide (WO3) nanoparticles of rod-like and spherical morphologies were synthesized using sol-gel modified Pechini’s method. The spherical morphology is achieved by optimizing precursor concentration. The synthesized WO3 nanoparticles were characterized by powder XRD for phase analysis and SEM for size and morphological analysis. It was revealed that the synthesized particles have spherical and rod-like shapes, are in the monoclinic phase and in the nano range. Dye sensitized solar cells were fabricated by incorporating WO3 nanoparticles in 0.5, 1 and 2 wt.% with anatase TiO2 nanoparticles and their photovoltaic characteristics were investigated. It was found that the incorporation of WO3 nanoparticles with nano TiO2 particles considerably enhanced the short circuit current density (Jsc) and power conversion efficiency (η). Further, it was found that WO3 nanoparticles with small size and spherical morphology have higher short circuit current density (13.27 mA cm-2) and power conversion efficiency (6.63%) compared to rod-like WO3 nanoparticles.