Synthesis of reflective TiO2/SiO2 multilayer flakes for solar cell application

A novel technique for preparing TiO2/SiO2 multilayer flakes has been developed to synthesize an optical interference pigment active in visible light. As this process does not require a core layer such as mica, the thickness of the flakes can be <1 mu m, this being much thinner than conventional interference flakes. As a potential application, the flakes were employed as light-scattering particles in dye-sensitized solar cells to improve light-harvesting efficiency. Although the improvement in the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency was limited to a wavelength range <600 nm, the flakes enhanced the short-circuit current under illumination as much as conventional scattering particles of a low aspect ratio. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.