Oxygen plasma and ion-beam treatments of nano-structured TiO2 were carried out to enhance the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells. Relative changes in surface states and recombination reactions were examined. Comparative studies showed that the oxygen ion-beam treatment was more effective in reducing the number of oxygen vacancies in TiO2 and the recombination reactions between TiO2 conduction band electrons and I3- ions in the electrolyte than the plasma treatment. Oxygen ion-beam treated TiO2 film in the dye-sensitized solar cells showed a 23mV increase in the open-circuit voltage and an improvement in the photo-conversion efficiency from 5.05 to 6.64%.

Comparative Study of Plasma and Ion-Beam Treatment to Reduce the Oxygen Vacancies in TiO2 and Recombination Reactions in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. M.K.Parvez, G.M.Yoo, J.H.Kim, M.J.Ko, S.R.Kim: Chemical Physics Letters, 2010, 495[1-3], 69-72