Application of Gd_2O_3∶Er~(3+) Up-Conversion Luminescent Powder in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Gd2O3∶Er3+up-conversion luminescent powder was synthesized by precipitation-calcination method,and characterized by X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscope,energy dispersive spectrometry and fluorescence spectroscopy.The luminescent powder was added to the TiO2 photoanode of dye-sensitized solar cells to make use of up-conversion luminescent character.The results indicate that Gd2O3∶Er3 +up-conversion luminescent powder with tubular morphology improves the light harvesting via a conversion luminescence process and increases absorption efficiency by light scattering,resulting in the increment of photocurrent and photovoltage.When TiO2 is doped by 5wt% Gd2O3∶Er3+,the overall light-to-electric conversion efficiency is enhanced from 5.93% to 7.55%,i.e.about 27% increase.