Electrode for dye-stabilized solar cells, has covering of titanium and titanium dioxide with thin, transparent conductive-strip base electrode on substrate

摘要

The covering of the dye-stabilized solar cell (DSC) electrode is titanium and/or titanium dioxide of composition TiOx, where x = 0 ... 2.2. Its density exceeds 3g/cm3. It is constructed on at least 95% of the base electrode, as a sealed layer. On the side facing away from the base electrode, it has semiconducting properties. The base electrode is a transparent, electrical conductor on a transparent substrate. It is a good metallic conductor. It is a metal strip thicker than 20 mu m. It comprises tin oxide, preferably doped with indium or fluorine. The transparent electrical conductor is alternatively zinc oxide, doped with aluminum or boron. The base electrode is a transparent electrical conductor on a transparent glass, or on a plastic film. The metallic conductor of the base electrode is aluminum or copper, applied as a layer on an inorganic- or polymer substrate. The metal strip is aluminum, copper or titanium. The covering electrode includes crystalline titanium dioxide in the rutile phase, optionally mixed with anatase phase, at least on the side facing away from the base electrode. It includes a gradient in its phase composition. This starts with amorphous phase, at the boundary surface with the base electrode. It progresses to an increasingly-crystalline phase composition, with increasing spacing from the base electrode. The covering electrode has a stoichiometric gradient, commencing with pure titanium at the boundary surface and increasing in oxygen content with increasing distance from it. The covering electrode contains a doping element Z selected from N, C, Fe, Ni, W, Co, Zn, Y, Sn, Bi, Pt, Rh, Nb, Hf, Ta, Sb or Si. The covering electrode thickness is 5 nm to 10mu m. Techniques used in manufacture, include high-temperature oxidation, magnetron sputtering, reactive pulsed magnetron sputtering and deposition from plasma-assisted electron beam vaporization. An independent claim IS INCLUDED FOR the method of manufacture.