An inverted fabrication method towards a flexible dye sensitized solar cell based on a free-standing TiO2 nanowires membrane

This paper reports an inverted fabrication process for the photoanode of a flexible dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). This procedure involves assembling a free-standing TiO2 nanowires/nanoparticles hybrid membrane, via high temperature annealing, sputtering an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer onto this membrane, and transferring these onto a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. The inverted procedure prevents thermal decomposition of polymer substrate, whilst enabling effective thermal treatment of the functionalized titanium oxide. The flexible DSSC fabricated in this way has an efficiency of 2.7%, which is comparable with rigid device constructed using similar materials. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.