Effect of deposition of Vanadium Oxide nanolayer on performance of TiO2 dye-sensitized solar cell electrode

Vanadium oxide layer was deposited on TiO2 in both nanoparticle and film form using self-limiting deposition from precursor solution at room temperature. Efficiency of an electrode modified with vanadium (V) oxide layer revealed a decrease in efficiency, relative to equivalent standard TiO2 electrode, of around 40%. DFT calculations of vanadium monolayers on anatase and rutile TiO2 surfaces revealed that the effect of vanadium (V) oxide layer on electronic structure of individual crystal structures is very different, suggesting that while pure anatase TiO2 film might benefit from deposition of surface vanadium (V) oxide layer, the performance of rutile TiO2 with the same layer probably decreases significantly.