An investigation of DNA-like structured dye-sensitized solar cells

This paper reports a 3D DNA-like structured dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with all-Ti substrates. A self-organized TiO(2) nanotubular arrays layer was directly grown on the photoanode surface by electrochemical anodization. Compared with the traditional flat-type DSSC, the DNA-like DSSC showed superiority of light utilization due to its symmetrical double-helix structure. Different thickness of the nanotubular arrays layers were investigated to find their influence on the cell's photovoltaic parameters, and the cell with a 15.3 mu m layer exhibited the highest P(max), about 0.49 mW. The series-parallel connection characteristics of the DNA-like DSSCs reveal that the total voltage and the total short current equalled the sum of each cell's in series and in parallel, respectively. It is anticipated that the novel DNA-like structured DSSCs have great application potential in larger modules using integrated circuit. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.