Influence of photoanode pre-heating treatment temperatures prior to dye immersion process on dye-sensitized solar cells photovoltaic performances

Abstract

Several efforts of photoanode treatment, such as surface modification, doping introduction, defect engineering, and heating treatment, have been developed to improve the photovoltaic performances of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Amid these options, alternative routes that require less demanding conditions are highly sought. Here we introduce an effective and convenient, non-vacuum low-temperature procedure to enhance the DSSC’s photovoltaic performances by photoanode pre-heating treatment prior to the dye immersion process. The experimental result showed that pre-heating treatment at 120 °C improves the efficiency and short-circuit current by about 28.4% and 19.1%, respectively. The conducted transient photovoltage measurements revealed that the increase of pre-heating temperatures leads to a longer electron lifetime and higher charge collection efficiency.