Zirconium oxide post treated tin doped TiO2 for dye sensitized solar cells

Sn doped TiO2 nanorods with 0.1, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1% dopant compositions were grown by sol-gel and hydrothermal method. Synthesized Sn doped TiO2 nanorods were post treated with Zr and HNO3 and used as photo anode in DSSC with Ru dye and dye extracted from leaves of Camellia sinensis. The PCE of 1% Sn doped TiO2 photo anode sensitized with Ru dye comparatively showed a better conversion efficiency of 4.96%. 1% Sn doped TiO2 nanorods post treated and acid treated with Zr and HNO3 sensitized with leaves of Camellia sinensis showed better PCE than untreated Sn doped TiO2 photo anode. Increasing the oxygen vacancy by raising the dopant composition with low difference between successive levels improves the photocatalytic performance of the cell. The post treatment of zirconia and HNO3 treatment enhances the photovoltaic parameters toward better performance of the cell. The synergistic effect of introduction of surface defects due to doping, surface modification by post treatment, retarding electron–hole recombination and protonation of the surface with acid treatment enhanced the efficiency of 1% Sn doped TiO2 nanorods and it can be considered as a potential photo anode for DSSC.