Sol gel preparation Of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped SnO2: Application in solar photovoltaic cell up-conversion

The photon upconversion phenomenon was suggested in the past as a potential process to enhance the efficiency of photovoltaic cell. The two most accepted processes responsible of this phenomenon in several host materials like fluoride are the Ground State Excitation (GSA) and Energy Transfer (ETU). In this work, we present the synthesis and preparation of Tin dioxide (SnO
2
) co-doped Er
³⁺
/Yb
³⁺
trivalent rare earth employed in photovoltaic cell up conversion. The powders of pure and doped samples were prepared by a simple sol gel method. X-Ray Diffraction DRX, Infrared Spectroscopy ATR-FTIR, X-Ray Fluorescence RFX and Inductively Coupled Plasma ICP-MS were performed to characterize the physical properties of samples. All the results are shown and discussed. RFX and ICP-MS exhibits a ratio of 10 between the dopant's concentrations.