TiO2/SiO2 NANOCOMPOSITE ELECTRODES PREPARED BY ELECTRODEPOSITION FOR DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS

摘要

For the new working electrode materials of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC), TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite thin films were prepared by cathodic electrodeposition at room temperature. The thin film and DSC made of TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite were characterized with photocurrent density, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission - scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and photovoltaic performance test. The addition of appropriate amount of SiO2 in the electrodeposition was essential and gave rise to achieve the superior crystallinity, photocurrent density and photovoltaic performance of the resulting TiO2/SiO2 electrode, which was significantly superior to a bare TiO2 electrode. In the optimized TiO2/SiO2 electrode, SiO2 was found to act as an energy barrier at the TiO2/electrolyte interface, resulting in the significant enhancement of the photocurrent density on the film and the photovoltaic performance on the corresponding DSC.