Preparation of SnO 2 Nanospheres and Its Application in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells
Jinxi Wang, Jiamei Liu, Kai Liu, Xu Ren, Wentao Ma, Ruixia An, Jinjiang Liu, Xiaoyan Xi, Shiqing Bi, Yajun Ma, Jianjun WuABSTRACT
In this work, a strategy is proposed to overcome the efficiency limitations of dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) through the hydrothermal construction of three‐dimensional SnO 2 nanosphere photoanodes. By investigating the influence of hydrothermal temperature on the morphology evolution, crystallinity, and optoelectronic properties of SnO 2 . The SnO 2 substrate synthesized at 160°C exhibits a well‐defined nanosphere morphology with an average diameter of approximately 500 nm, high crystallinity, and a wide bandgap of 3.67 eV, which collectively facilitate efficient charge separation and suppress carrier recombination. Furthermore, an ultrathin TiO 2 interfacial layer is introduced to construct a heterojunction architecture, thereby optimizing the interfacial energetics and accelerating charge transfer. As a result, the optimized device achieves a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.23%, accompanied by a remarkably reduced charge‐transfer resistance of 12.91 Ω and an extended electron lifetime of 40.1 ms. Moreover, the device retains approximately 70% of its initial efficiency after continuous illumination for 30 days, demonstrating substantially improved operational stability. This work provides an effective strategy for overcoming the intrinsic limitations of SnO 2 photoanodes.