Effects of light scattering TiO2 surface-modified by dual oxide coating in dye-sensitized solar cells

The surface of light scattering TiO2 particles in the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was dual-coated with Al2O3 and SiO2 nanoparticles. The surface modification of the light scattering TiO2 particles was performed by a modified sol-gel method using the colloidal alumina and the colloidal silica as surface coating precursors. It was revealed that the dual-coated light scattering TiO2 particles leads to an increase in short-circuit photocurrent of DSSC device, resulting in an increase in energy conversion efficiency. This seems to be due to the increase of the light scattering by a combination of the light scattering TiO2 particles and the oxide nanoparticles such as Al2O3 and SiO2. (C) 2011 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.