Anatase TiO2 Hollow Microspheres Fabricated by Continuous Spray Pyrolysis as a Scattering Layer in Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells

TiO2 hollow spheres, synthesised using Continuous Spray Pyrolysis (CoSP) reactor, were utilised as a scattering layer in dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSC) and the device performance was investigated. The size of the TiO2 hollow spheres was about 170-300 nm and the thickness of the shell was about 55-60 nm. DSSC fabrication involved screen printing the TiO2 hollow spheres (HSs) as a scattering layer on top of TiO2 transparent layer (10 mu m thick; 20 nm particle size) making a total thickness of 15 mu m. The results suggested that the DSSC containing TiO2 HSs layer showed power conversion efficiency of 7.46% which is better than that containing single layer TiO2 transparent film (7.1%). This might be attributed to TiO2 HSs layer acting as light scattering layer. Hence the cell exhibits an enhanced light-harvesting performance, therefore leading to an increment of photovoltaic performance compared to that for pure TiO2 transparent film. (c) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.