UV Ozone based rapid low temperature fabrication of flexible dye sensitized solar cells

Herein, we have developed a multilayer TiO2 film thickness of around 4 mu m at lower temperature (120 degrees C) by spin coating and doctor blade technique on polyethylene terephthalate (ITO-PET) substrate. Further, the additional processing step Ultravoilet-Ozone (UVO3) treatment was performed on TiO2 electron transport layer (ETL) to enhance the performance of FDSSCs. UVO3 treatment significantly improved the crystallinity and charge transport characteristic of ETL by removing the organic impurities. The photovoltaic devices based on 4 h of UVO3 treated TiO2 film exhibited superior device performance with an overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.53% compared to 1.43% (without UVO3 treatment). Electrochemical impedance measurement indicated that TiO2 layer treated with UVO3 decreased series resistance, electron recombination and improved electron life substantially. The improved device properties, simple preparation procedure and low processing cost, enable this FDSSCs fabrication method to be a credible alternative of conventional techniques.

Automated summary

A multilayer TiO2 film with a thickness of 4 μm was successfully prepared on an ITO-PET substrate at lower temperature using spin coating and doctor blade technique. The performance of FDSSCs was enhanced by additional Ultravoilet-Ozone (UVO3) treatment on the TiO2 electron transport layer (ETL), which improved crystallinity and charge transport characteristic by removing organic impurities. The UVO3-treated TiO2 film exhibited superior device performance with an overall power conversion efficiency of 2.53%.