A Highly Efficient Dye-sensitized Solar Cell with a Blocking Layer and TiCl4 Treatment to Suppress Dark Reaction

Abstract

A highly photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cell with energy conversion efficiency about 9.20% is obtained through the addition of a blocking layer and TiCl4 treatment on the TiO2 film to suppress dark reaction. It is found that the addition of a 1.0-μm blocking layer in the photoelectrode can improve the energy conversion efficiency of a dye-sensitized solar cell from 7.41 to 7.92%, and the further 80°C TiCl4 aqueous solution treatment on the TiO2 film can also obviously enhance the energy conversion efficiency from 7.92 to 9.20%, due to the efficient suppression of dark reaction in the dye-sensitized solar cell. Thus, the addition of a blocking layer and TiCl4 treatment on the TiO2 film is an efficient way for fabricating highly photovoltaic performance of the dye-sensitized solar cell.