Abstract

• Tin oxide (SnO2) nanofibers were successfully prepared by electrospinning homoheneous viscous solution of tin acetate in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The electrospun nanofibers are calcined at 600 ̊ C for 2 h. Structural, diameter in size and morphology of heat-treated SnO2 nanofibers were investigated in detail by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The optical properties of SnO2 nanofiber film was also studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The nanofiber was sensitized with natural dye and assembled into a DSSC. High performance carbon electrode was prepared onto ITO substrate and used as counter electrode. I-V characteristic was measured and conversion efficiency (ηcon) and fill factor (FF) were determined.SnO2 thin film will be deposited onto ITO (Indium doped tin oxide) coated glass substrate by spin coating technique. After that, the solar cell performance of DSSC with nanofibers will be measured and compared to those of DSSC with SnO2 thin film. According to the I-V measurement, the efficiency of SnO2 nanofibers based DSSC was greater than that of SnO2 thin film based DSSC. The SnO2 nanofiers based DSSC of TCD 12 cm gave the best efficiency and it was 2.71 %. The experimental findings resulted from this research work can be of great help for low-cost and Eco-friendly DSSC application.