Improved Efficiency of TiO₂ Nanotube Arrays with TiCl₄ Treatment in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract:

In this work, highly-ordered TiO₂ nanotubes arrays were fabricated by two-step anodic oxidation method to serve as photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. We investigated the effect of TiCl₄ treatment on the microstructure and morphologies of TiO₂ nanotubes arrays. It is found that the TiCl₄ treatment can generally introduce 10-15 nm TiO₂ nanoparticles into the TiO₂ nanotube arrays. The photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells is related to the concentration and treated-time of TiCl₄ treatment. A power conversion efficiency of 7.63% was achieved for dye-sensitized solar cell with photoanode treated by 0.04 M TiCl₄ for 60min. The improved power conversion efficiency can be attributed to the increased available surface for dye adsorption in photoanodes.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 633)
• Pages: 39-44
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.633.39
• Online since: November 2014
• Authors: Quan Tong Li, J. Zhang*, S.Q. Li, J. Xie, Hao Wang
• Keywords: Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell, Power Conversion Efficiency, TiCl₄ Treatment, TiO₂ Nanoparticles, TiO₂ Nanotubes Arrays

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