Highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cell prepared by electrophoretic deposition method: the effect of TiO2 films thickness on the performance of cells

Abstract

In this work, nanocrystalline P25 TiO2 films with different thicknesses were deposited on FTO coated glass substrates by an electrophoretic deposition technique (EPD) and applied as the work electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) using cis-bis(isothiocyanato)(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylato)(4,4'di-nonyl-2'-bipyridyl) ruthenium(II) (Z907, Dyesol) as sensitizing dye.The results showed that the increasing the thickness of TiO2 films lead to increase the adsorption of the dye on the TiO2 layers which in turns improved the short-circuit photocurrent (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc), respectively. Furthermore, it was found that the effects of the surface states on the recombination of the photo-injected electrons (electron–hole pairs) in the TiO2 films strongly depend on theTiO2 electrode annealing temperature. Finally, a DSSC with a 32.82 μm thickness for TiO2 film annealed at 600°C produced the highest conversion efficiency with an incident solar energy of 100 mW/cm2 (η = 8.23%, Jsc = 15.98, Voc = 0.73, FF = 0.7).