One of the main limitations in the development of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is contributed by the optical losses that occur within the absorber layer due to spectral mismatch. DSSC typically only absorbs solar light within the visible region (i.e. up to 800 nm), while the photon energy in the infrared region remain unutilized. Here we report the integration of Er3+ ion-doped glass as up-conversion (UC) element in DSSC and study their effect on the photovoltaic performances. Several characterizations were conducted including physical, structural, optical, luminescence, and radiative properties on the glass sample, while current-voltage and incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency characterization were conducted to analyze the electrical properties of DSSC. The UC luminescence spectra of the glass sample under 800 nm excitation showed green light emissions that were located between 531 and 553 nm. The UC luminescence band of glass sample was confirmed suitable with the absorption band of Z907 dye. After placing the UC glass below the DSSC’s counter electrode side, the power conversion efficiency of DSSC were mostly positively affected by the presence of UC glass, where the highest improvement of around 7.21% was obtained for DSSC coupled with 2.0 mol% of Er3+ ion-doped glass . The enhancement was primarily attributed to the improved light harvesting due to the UC mechanism within the device as indicated by the increase in external quantum efficiency and fill factor. Our contribution provides a simple yet versatile approach in improving DSSC performance via the application of a free standing Er3+ ion-doped up-conversion glass.

Nd 3+ : crystal is widely used as an optical gain medium in many applications such as light sensing, lasing medium, telecommunication, etc. Unfortunately, crystal development is an uneasy fabrication and high-cost production. Nowadays, investigation of glass as a host matrix of the gain medium is more attractive due to their potential for replacing crystal. Nd 3+ ion-doped various glasses such as B 2 O 3 , TeO 2 , P 2 O 5 and SiO 2 have been widely investigated. However, the effect of B 2 O 3 and SiO 2 in Nd 3+ ion-doped phosphate glass has not been observed in detail. In this work, glass medium with the formula of 60P 2 O 5 :15B 2 O 3 :10Al 2 O 3 :13Li 2 O:2Nd 2 O 3 (PBAlLiNd) and 60P 2 O 5 :15SiO 2 :10Al 2 O 3 :13Li 2 O:2Nd 2 O 3 (PSAlLiNd) fabricated by melt and quenching technique. This technique is a simple and inexpensive method so that it is one of the solutions to decrease the cost production. The glass sample was melted at 1200 °C for 180 minutes and annealed at 500 °C for 180 minutes. The physical (density and molar volume), optical, luminescence (excitation and emission spectra) and radiative properties of the glass sample investigated for understanding their sensing and lasing potential. From the collected data, the glass medium strongly emits 1062 nm excited by 582 nm. The prepared glass is suitable for light sensing, especially PSAlLiNd glass due to the higher luminescence intensity. Meanwhile, the radiative properties of PBAlLiNd and PSAlLiNd were determined by the Judd-Ofelt theory. From all results analysis, PSAlLiNd glass possesses a higher stimulated emission cross section and radiative transition probability than PBAlLiNd glass. Therefore, PSAlLiNd glass is a more promising material for 1062 nm laser application. The replacing B 2 O 3 by SiO 2 in the phosphate glass system increases the luminescence and radiative properties due to the low phonon energy of SiO 2 than B 2 O 3 .