An efficient titanium-based photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cell under back-side illumination

Pretreatment of H2O2 is performed on titanium (Ti) foil as an efficient photoanode substrate for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The H2O2-treated Ti shows high surface area because of the formation of networked TiO2 nanosheets, which enhances electrical contact between screen-printed TiO2 nanoparticles and Ti foil. Electron transfer on the photoanode is improved, as identified by reduced charge transfer resistance and improved electron transport properties. Compared with DSSC based on non-treated Ti photoanode, DSSC with this H2O2-treated Ti photoanode exhibits remarkable increases in short-circuit current density (from 8.55 to 14.38mA/cm2) and energy conversion efficiency (from 4.68 to 7.10%) under AM1.5 back-side illumination. Copyright (c) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.