Preparation of nanocrystalline TiO_2 thin film at low temperature and its application in dye-sensitized solar cell

摘要

The electrophoretic deposition combined with common pressure hydrothermal treatment was employed to prepare nanocrystalline TiO_2 thin film from suspension of tetra-n-butyl titanate and P25 at low temperature. The tetran-butyl titanate was hydrolyzed and crystallized into anatase to interconnect nanocrystalline TiO_2 particles and to stick them to a conductive substrate by common pressure hydrothermal treatment to improve the electron transport properties of the deposited thin film. A dye-sensitized solar cell based on TiO_2 thin film prepared by the low temperature method yielded the conversion efficiency of 6.12%. Due to the relative slower electron transport rate in the deposited film, its conversion efficiency was slightly lower than that of the cell with TiO_2 thin film prepared by the conventional high temperature sintering method. Since it is free of high temperature sintering step, this method can be used to prepare nanocrystalline TiO_2 thin film on plastic polymer conductive substrate for fabrication of flexible dye-sensitized solar cell.