Carbon nanotubes influenced indium oxide as photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cell

This study considers the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) which are single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in indium oxide (In2O3) for dye-sensitized solar cells. The thin films were prepared by sol-gel method annealed at 550 °C using 0.3 wt.% of CNTs. The result showed the thin films are of body-centered cubic phase. The crystallite sizes of In2O3, In2O3-MWCNTs and In2O3-SWCNTs were measured with 63, 43 and 30 nm, respectively. Although the morphology analysis showed very rough surface area for In2O3-MWCNTs, In2O3-SWCNTs exhibited greater photovoltaic performance. The In2O3-SWCNTs-based DSSC exhibited good photovoltaic performance with power conversion efficiency, photocurrent density, open circuit voltage, and fill factor of 1.02 %, 5.01 mA/cm2, 0.43 V and 0.32, respectively. This is due to the large surface area and pore volume in In2O3-SWCNTs assisting efficient dye-loading that promotes higher efficiency. The obtained results revealed the influence of the addition of CNTs in In2O3-based DSSC.