Fabrication of transparent conductive oxide-less dye-sensitized solar cells consisting of Ti electrodes by electron-beam evaporation process

In this paper, we report a fabrication process of transparent conductive oxide (TCO)-less dye-sensitized solar cell. In the proposed cell fabrication process, TCO electrode is replaced with Ti electrode. Ti layer is deposited by electron beam evaporation method on the backside of the printed TiO2 layer. Due to the relatively rough surface of TiO2 printing layer, deposited Ti electrode has porosity. This enables passing of the dye and electrolyte through the electrode. The proposed method has potential to achieve cost-effective manufacturing. The conversion efficiency is improved with increasing deposition time of Ti electrode, which suggests that the sheet resistance of the Ti electrode is one of the most important factors for improving solar cell performances in the proposed cell structure.