Manufacture of dye sensitized solar cell using titania sol prepared at room temperature by the sol-gel method

To investigate the effect of the physical properties of titania particles on the photovoltaic performance of dye sensitized solar cells, various titania sols were prepared at room temperature by the sol-gel method. The subsequent aging treatment of this sol was carried out with and without hydrothermal treatment at higher temperatures. The dye adsorption amount of the titania particulate films and the power conversion efficiency of the solar cells thus fabricated were greatly affected by the physical properties of the particles such as crystalline form and the primary particle size. The power conversion efficiency of the solar cells made of the titania particles prepared even without the post-hydrothermal treatment reached up to approximately 6%, which was comparable to that of the cell fabricated with the particles treated hydrothermally at 200degreesC, indicating the possible skipping of this treatment step.