Effect of Morphology on SnO2/MWCNT-Based DSSC Performance with Various Annealing Temperatures

Abstract

Development of tin/multi-walled carbon nanotube (SnO2/MWCNTs) thin films were prepared by sol-gel method. The synthesis of tin oxide (SnO2) was carried out by dissolving tin (II) chloride (SnCl3) in a solvent of 2-methoxyethanol. Different annealing temperatures of 400 °C, 450 °C, 500 °C, 550 °C and 600 °C were proposed in this study. The changes in the structural properties were analyzed by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. AFM results indicated very rough surface area of SnO2/MWCNTs thin films where roughness values increased linearly from 1.8 nm to 11 nm by increasing the annealing temperatures from 400 °C to 600 °C. The SnO2/MWCNTs-based DSSC exhibited good photovoltaic performance with power conversion efficiency (η), photocurrent density (Jsc), open circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) of 0.62 %, 5.6 mA cm-2, 0.55 V and 0.65 respectively. The obtained structural and photovoltaic performance analysis was proposed as a suitable benchmark for Sn/MWCNTs based dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) application.