Preparation of nanoporous TiO₂ electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Nano-porous TiO 2 thin films have been widely used as the working electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this work, the phase-pure anatase TiO 2 (a- TiO 2) and rutile TiO 2 (r- TiO 2) have been prepared using hydrothermal processes. The investigation of photo-to-electron conversion efficiency of DSSCs fabricated from mixed- TiO 2 with a- TiO 2 and r- TiO 2 ratio of 80:20 (A8R2) was performed and compared to that from commercial TiO 2 (DP-25). The results showed higher efficiency of DSSC for A8R2 cells with same dependence of cell efficiency on the film thickness for both A8R2 and DP-25 cells. The best efficiency obtained in this work is 5.2 from A8R2 cell with TiO 2 film thickness of 12.0 m. The correlation between the TiO 2 films thickness and photoelectron chemical properties of DSSCs fabricated from A8R2 and DP-25 was compared and discussed.