A new method for manufacturing nanostructured electrodes on plastic substrates

The present paper describes a new method for manufacturing a nanostructured porous layer of a semiconductor material on a conducting plastic substrate for use in an electrochemical or photoelectrochemical cell, The method involves the deposition of a layer of semiconductor particles on conducting plastic and the compression of the particle layer to form a mechanically stable, electrically conducting, porous nanostructured film at room temperature. Photoelectrochemical characteristics of the resulting nanostructured films are presented showing, for example, overall solar to electric conversion efficiencies of up to 4.9% (0.1 sun). The potential use of the new manufacturing method in future applications of nanostructured electrodes is discussed.