Paper TF-ThP14
Optimization of Sputter-Deposited TiO₂ Photo-Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Thursday, October 18, 2007, 5:30 pm, Room 4C

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have been under investigation for the past decade due to their attractive features such as high energy conversion efficiency and low production costs. The high light-to-energy conversion efficiencies achieved with DSCs may be attributed to the nano-porous TiO₂ electrode. Reactive magnetron sputtering is a very promising technique for large-area uniform coating of TiO₂ thin film and it has potential to control the crystallographic phase and micro-structure through the process of modification of different sputtering parameters. In this present study effort has been made to prepare low cost DSCs with sputter-deposited TiO₂ electrode. Nano-porous TiO₂ thin films were successfully deposited on SnO₂:F substrate by facing target reactive magnetron sputtering deposition technique with different substrate temperatures ranging from room temperature to 400° C. Low cost chlorophyllin based-dye was used along with carbon paste electrodes (CPEs) on SnO₂:F glass as a counter electrode. Incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) was calculated for all the solar cells with different TiO₂ thin films to evaluate the economic viability of this technique. The amount of dye incorporation was found to be highly dependent on the microstructure and the thickness of the film, as apparent from optical measurements. The variation of photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cells with different TiO₂ films deposited at different substrate temperatures is discussed with the analysis of different microstructure of the TiO₂ thin films and the corresponding dye-incorporation.