Applied Chemistry, Vol.7, No.2, 655-658, October, 2003
Electrophoretically Deposited TiO2 Film for the Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell
The nanocrystalline materials and films have been shown extraordinary optical and electronic properties so could be applicable to photovoltaics, photocatalysis, electrochromism, and electroluminescence. Especially, nanocrystalline TiO2 for photochemical solar cells based on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has been focused and investigated. Porous network of nanocrystalline TiO2 in solar cell using glass coated with tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) was usually achieved by sintering at 450 - 500 ℃. However, this thermal treatment could not be applied to prepared the porous network of TiO2 in flexible solar cell because of thermal degradation of flexible substrate. Alternative ways such as thermal treatment around 120 ℃ or compression were employed for achieving the porous network of nanocrystalline TiO2 in flexible solar cell. TiO2 suspension was spreaded using spin-coating or doctor-blade technique for preparation of porous TiO2 photo-electrode. In this work, Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) combined with compression was employed for preparation of TiO2 photo-electrodes. EPD represents a materials processing technique in which charged particles in a suspension including electrolyte, particles, and solvent are moved toward the oppositely charged electrode and are then deposited onto a substrate under an applied DC electric field. In this work, typical electrophoretically deposited nanocrystalline TiO2 films showed poor optical and electronic properties, however, the properties of films were changed after compression. The light-harvesting or absorption of nanocrystalline TiO2 films were created or much increased after compression without thermal treatment. So the electrophoretically deposited nanocrystalline TiO2 could be applicable for the flexible dye-sensitized solar cell.