Using a doctor-blade method, a highly viscous titanium dioxide (TiO2) paste was deposited on a glass substrate coated with fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO). The paste was mainly composed of commercially available TiO2 nanoparticles (P25) and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) as organic filler. Varying the content of HPC in the TiO2 paste changed the physical properties of the mesoporous TiO2 layer, particularly its porosity and surface area. From the quantification of dyes on Ti2, layer and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) study of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the surface area of the TiO2 film was found to have decreased. This came with the increase of HPC content while the porosity of the film increased, consistent with the concurrent decrease of short-circuit current density (Jsc) and efficiency (eta). The increased porosity greatly affected the electron transport through the TiO2 film by decreasing the coordination number of the TiO2 particles resulting to a decrease of the electron diffusion coefficient.

:The effect of TiO 2 nanotube (TNT) and nanoparticle (TNP) composite photoelectrode and the role of TNT to enhance the photo conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) have investigated in this study. Results demonstrated that the increase of the TNT content (1-15 %) into the electron collecting TNP film increases the open-circuit potential (V oc ) and short circuit current density (J sc ). Based on the impedance analysis, the increased V oc was attributed to the suppressed recombination between electrode and electrolyte or dye. Photochemical analysis revealed that the increased J sc with the increased TNT content was due to the scattering effect and the reduced electron diffusion path of TNT. The highest J sc (12.6 mA/cm 2 ), V oc (711 mV) and conversion efficiency (5.9%) were obtained in the composite photoelectrode with 15% TNT. However, J sc and V oc was decreased for the case of 20% TNT, which results from the significant reduction of adsorbed dye amount and the poor attachment of the film on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO). Therefore, application of this composite photoelectrode is expected to be a promising approach to improve the energy conversion efficiency of DSSC.

We report a series of novel imidazolium iodides based ionic liquids (NMIPHI, NAIPHI, and NBIPHI) with different functional groups for the development of a quasi-solid type electrolyte for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The diffusion coefficients of redox ions (I − and I 3 − ) are dependent on the molecular weight and it was higher for lighter salts. Among the three ionic liquids, NMIPHI showed highest efficiency of 4.18% when it was used in a liquid electrolyte of a DSSC with ca. 6 µm thick TiO 2 mesoporous film. Even though the efficiency was ca. 19% lower than that obtained from a liquid electrolyte composed of PMII. When NMIPHI was mixed with PMII with a molar ratio of 1:1 in a solvent free electrolyte, the efficiency of the DSSCs was enhanced compared to that based on pristine PMII.