A transparent conductive oxide-less dye-sensitized solar cell (TCO-less DSC) consisting of a thick and porous Ti electrode is reported. The Ti electrode was contacted with the back of a stained porous titania layer. A thick Ti electrode prepared by conventional sputtering prevented ionic diffusions through the Ti electrode and decreased photovoltaic performance. Tetrapod-shaped ZnO crystals were used to prepare straight and continuous nanopores in the Ti electrode to maintain the ionic diffusion. 8% efficiency of the TCO-less DSC is also reported. #
The preparation of thermally stable TiO 2 nanowires (NWs) is reported. Crude TiO 2 NWs were prepared by reacting TiO 2 nanoparticles (P25) with NaOH aqueous. solution (Kasuga method), followed by extracting Na þ from the NWs. When the Na þ -free NWs were baked at 450 -500 C, the shape of the NWs was affected and the NWs became to nanoparticles. The thermal stabilities of the NWs were improved by treating the NWs with Nb(OEt) 5 solutions. The shape of these Nb-treated NWs did not change even after they were baked at 450 C. It was found that Nb treatment has roles in decreasing the Na þ content effectively and increasing the thermal stability of NWs. Dye-sensitized solar cells were prepared using a mixture of TiO 2 nano-particles (P25) and the Nb-treated NWs (1 : 1 wt %). The fiber structures remained even after 450 C baking. The photoelectric conversion efficiency increased, which was associated with an increase in the electron diffusion coefficient and a longer electron lifetime.
Solidification of dye sensitized solar cells (DSC) is carried out in two methods. One is a method to use soft gels containing less than 10 % of chemically crosslinkable gelators. The soft gel is characterized with the latent property. The other is a method to use hard gels containing 100 % of surface modified TiO 2 nanoparticles as gelators. In both cases, electrolytes are solidified without decreasing photovoltaic performances even after solidification by fabricating ion-paths in the solidified electrolytes associated with self-organization of long alkyl groups.
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