Abstract
Herein, nanoparticles of zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) were initially synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method followed by ultrasonication. Then mixed with TiO2 (P25), and subsequently used as photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cell. ZnFe2O4 nanocomposites were found to be active in the visible region of the solar spectrum, while P25 showed absorption in the UV region, demonstrating a possibility of wider absorption band and higher photoelectric conversion efficiency. Composite photanode (with 0.1 wt% ZnFe2O4) based cell showed high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.55%, whereas, the PCE of the cell with pure TiO2 as photoanode was 3.27%. Thus, there was an 39% enhancement of PCE for the composite photanode based cell..
•Zinc ferrite incorporated TiO2 was used as photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells.•Incorporation of zinc ferrite enhanced the absorption in UV region.•Highest conversion efficiency of the solar cell was obtained for 0.1% doping of zinc ferrite.