Performance of CoTiO 3 as an oxide perovskite material for the light scattering layer of dye-sensitized solar cells

Light scattering layers can play an essential role in the transport characteristics of charge carriers and the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Perovskite oxide materials have recently attracted considerable attention as light scattering materials due to their optical and structural properties. Herein, we synthesized TiO 2 –CoTiO 3 composites with a facile room temperature sol–gel procedure for use as a light scattering layer in the photoanode of DSSC devices. TiO 2 –CoTiO 3 composites were applied as monolayer photoanodes and bilayered films on a nano-TiO 2 photoactive layer. Microstructural investigations of the composite photoanodes showed a bimodal texture consisting of CoTiO 3 coarse and TiO 2 fine particles. CoTiO 3 containing photoanodes exhibited a higher light scattering property and lower dye adsorption amount compared to the control pristine TiO 2 electrode. Photovoltaic metrics of fabricated DSSC devices with different contents of CoTiO 3 in mono- and bilayered configurations were recorded under simulated AM 1.5 sunlight, suggesting that the photovoltaic performance of the devices improved in the presence of the TiO 2 –CoTiO 3 scattering layer. Interestingly, no considerable difference in photovoltaic operation of CoTiO 3 in the mono- and bilayered configurations was achieved ( i.e. , photoconversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.46% and 7.67% for mono- and bilayered devices, respectively). However, their PCEs are about 80% higher than that of the control device without the light scattering layer.