Fabrication of multilayer TiO 2 thin films for dye-sensitized solar cells with high conversion efficiency by electrophoresis deposition

This research coats a commercial TiO2 nanoparticle Degussa P25 with good roundness and size uniformity on an indium tin oxide (ITO) glass substrate and to be photoelectrical electrode by electrophoresis deposition. It combined with dye N719, electrolyte I-/I3- and counter-electrode of Pt layer to produce dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Through the electrophoretic technique, a multilayer film of an appropriate thickness is deposited in the suspension containing TiO2 nanoparticles and isopropanol. In this process, electric current, voltage, and the number of deposition cycles are well controlled to obtain a single TiO2 film of around 3.3 μm thick. Stacking is then performed to obtain a multilayer-typed TiO2 film of around 12 μm thick. As the sintering temperature reaches 400 °C, the prepared multilayer TiO2 film with a good compactness can increase the dye adsorption capability of the thin film and enhance its adsorption percentage. In addition, the heat treatment will transfer a portion of the rutile crystalline into the anatase crystalline, resulting in better material properties for DSSCs application. DSSCs produced are exposed to metal halide lamp and their energy conversion efficiency is measured. The I-V curve of the produced DSSCs shows that it has an excellent energy conversion efficiency of 6.9%. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.