Abstract
AbstractA nitric acid (2M) pre-treatment is shown to increase the efficiency of a standard dye sensitized solar cell mounted on a FTO glass substrate from 4.15% to 5.12%. The pre-treatment involves immersing an FTO glass electrode coated with commercial ethyl cellulose based TiO2 paste for 1-60 minutes prior to sintering at 450°C. The pre-treatment leads to agglomeration of the TiO2 creating a scattering layer which covers the acid treated surface on short term immersion (<30 mins) and penetrates the bulk layer upon long immersion. The scattering layer itself takes up less of the sensitizing (N719) dye but scatters photons in the rest of the film. The optimum immersion time under room temperature conditions was found to be ca 20 minutes since at much longer immersion times the bulk film particle agglomeration reduced efficiency. The choice of anion in the acid is critical with certain species, notably phosphate, resulting in blockage of dye absorption sites in the entire film resulting in reduced cell efficiency.
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