Abstract Herein we present a comprehensive study of composition dependent Neodymium (Nd3+) doped Titania (Nd-TiO2) as photoanodes for obtaining improved performances in different types of solar energy conversion devices, namely dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), quantum-dot (QD) sensitized solar cells (QDSC) and photo-electrochemical cells (PEC). An all-inclusive characterization of the optical, dielectric properties and morphological studies of Nd-TiO2 with different doping concentration are performed. The XPS and Urbach energy analysis corroborated further by the dielectric studies established the critical role of vacancies in the improved electrical properties of doped TiO2 in comparison with that of undoped TiO2. Superior performances on solar cells devices (DSSC and QDSC) and PEC water splitting devices using N719 dye and CdS-QD sensitized Nd-TiO2 photoanodes were fabricated and analyzed. Enhanced photo-conversion efficiencies of ≈30% for QDSC and ≈16% for DSSC were obtained with Nd (0.4 mol%)-TiO2 photoanodes in comparison with undoped TiO2 photoanodes. Similarly, the PEC water splitting of CdS (QDs) sensitization exhibited the photocurrent density of (1.8 mA-cm−2 at 1.23 V vs RHE), which is three times higher than undoped TiO2, while the N719 dye-sensitized photoanode exhibited the current density of (0.7 mA-cm−2 at 1.23 V vs RHE), which is two times higher than undoped TiO2. The results established that the optimized doping concentration of Nd (0.4 mol%)-TiO2 is universal for all classes of solar energy conversion devices.

中文翻译：

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钕掺杂二氧化钛光阳极基敏化太阳能电池和光电化学电池中的空位诱导增强

摘要 在此，我们对组成依赖的钕 (Nd3+) 掺杂二氧化钛 (Nd-TiO2) 作为光阳极进行了全面研究，以在不同类型的太阳能转换设备中获得改进的性能，即染料敏化太阳能电池 (DSSC)、量子点 ( QD) 敏化太阳能电池 (QDSC) 和光电化学电池 (PEC)。进行了具有不同掺杂浓度的 Nd-TiO2 的光学、介电特性和形态研究的全面表征。介电研究进一步证实了 XPS 和 Urbach 能量分析，确定了与未掺杂的 TiO2 相比，空位在掺杂 TiO2 电性能改善中的关键作用。制造并分析了使用 N719 染料和 CdS-QD 敏化 Nd-TiO2 光阳极的太阳能电池装置（DSSC 和 QDSC）和 PEC 水分解装置的优越性能。与未掺杂的 TiO2 光阳极相比，使用 Nd (0.4 mol%)-TiO2 光阳极获得了增强的 QDSC 约 30% 和 DSSC 约 16% 的光转换效率。类似地，CdS (QDs) 敏化的 PEC 水分解表现出的光电流密度为（1.8 mA-cm-2 at 1.23 V vs RHE），是未掺杂的 TiO2 的三倍，而 N719 染料敏化光阳极表现出的电流密度为密度（0.7 mA-cm-2 at 1.23 V vs RHE），比未掺杂的 TiO2 高两倍。结果表明，优化的 Nd (0.4 mol%)-TiO2 掺杂浓度适用于所有类型的太阳能转换设备。