An Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Coating for Low Cost Metal Mounted Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

摘要

Titanium nitride (TiN) incorporated polyimide (PI) is an inorganic/organic hybrid coating where TiN particles are evenly dispersed into a polyimide matrix. Once cured, this composite coating can withstand high temperature treatments (up to 500 °C) whilst maintaining excellent dimensional and chemical stability and electrical conductivity, with sheet reistance values comparable to thin films of transparent conducting oxides such as fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO). The TiN/PI hybrid coating makes an attractive material that may be used as a strategic first layer in the working electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) mounted on metal substrates: while compatible with the deposition and high temperature processing of the mesoporous titanium dioxide layer, it is also expected to prevent corrosion from the aggressive I~-/I_3~-electrolyte whilst maintaining electrical conductivity. DSCs were fabricated using a TiN/PI coating on architectural steel substrates which demonstrated comparable photovoltaic characteristics to Ti-metal and FTO-coated glass based cells.