An efficient titanium‐based photoanode for dye‐sensitized solar cell under back‐side illumination

Abstract

Pretreatment of H2O2 is performed on titanium (Ti) foil as an efficient photoanode substrate for dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The H2O2‐treated Ti shows high surface area because of the formation of networked TiO2 nanosheets, which enhances electrical contact between screen‐printed TiO2 nanoparticles and Ti foil. Electron transfer on the photoanode is improved, as identified by reduced charge transfer resistance and improved electron transport properties. Compared with DSSC based on non‐treated Ti photoanode, DSSC with this H2O2‐treated Ti photoanode exhibits remarkable increases in short‐circuit current density (from 8.55 to 14.38 mA/cm2) and energy conversion efficiency (from 4.68 to 7.10%) under AM1.5 back‐side illumination. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Utilizing Chromium as the Photoanode Substrate in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

“…For the films that are well-attached to the substrate, the RC element at the substrate surface is not easily distinguishable and is usually overlapped with the counter electrode impedance; however, when there is a large interfacial resistance, an additional semicircle is formed between the counter electrode semicircle and the TiO 2 -electrolyte semicircle. [27,29] This interfacial resistance is not distinguishable for conventional DSSCs based on the FTO substrate; however, for DSSCs based on untreated Cr substrates, it appears as a large semicircle that is distinguishable with a different peak frequency. By applying TiO 2 sol treatment, this semicircle disappears, as is shown in Figure 7, whereas the TiO 2 -electrolyte semicircle does not change and its peak point remains at a frequency of approximately 10 Hz.…”

“…There is also a report on reducing the interfacial resistance between Ti foil and TiO 2 layer by using an H 2 O 2 treatment that creates networked TiO 2 nanosheets, improving electrical contact between TiO 2 nanoparticles and Ti foil and, therefore, reducing the size of the related semicircle in the Nyquist plot. [29] This demonstrates that the enhancement caused by TiO 2 sol treatment can be attributed to the reduction of the Cr-TiO 2 interface resistance, which is associated with the formation of interconnections between the rough surface of chromium and the mesoporous structure of TiO 2 . It may also be a result of slowing down the diffusion of oxygen in parts of the chromium substrate covered by the colloidal TiO 2 sol layer, thus, preventing the Cr 2 O 3 nanometric insulating layer from being thickened in the thermal processes, that is, acting as an oxidation resistant coating.…”

Titanium wire engineering and its effect on the performance of coil type cylindrical dye sensitized solar cells

“…Nanosheet formation is expected to increase the specific area of Ti substrate because of its branched structure and improves the electrical contact between TiO 2 nanoparticles and the Ti wire substrate compared to untreated wire surface. Similar kind of observation pertaining the TiO 2 nanosheet formation by the H 2 O 2 oxidation of Ti-foil has been made by Tsai et al also [13].…”

“…In such metallic substrate based photoanode, the photo generated electron transfer from TiO 2 to the conducting surface is one of the major controlling factors to achieve high power conversion efficiency (PCE). To improve this electron transfer process, great deal of the attempts such as introduction of interfacial layers on the Ti and stainless steel (SS) foils [10][11][12][13][14][15] have been made in order to provide a better binding force to the TiO 2 nanoparticle and smooth untreated metallic substrates.…”

Development of Titanium-Sputtered Anodized Aluminum Substrates for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…Titanium metal substrates have already been used in flexible electrode fabrication for DSC devices to replace rigid glass-based electrodes. [1][2][3][4] In addition, Ti-coated steel substrates have been the subject of considerable R&D effort. [5] Alternatively, Ti-coated aluminum may provide a versatile less costly and lighter substrate for variable scale DSC applications, hence the undertaking of this research.…”