Dye-sensitized solar cells with TiO2 nanocrystalline films prepared by conventional and rapid thermal annealing processes

Titanium oxide (TiO2) thin films are prepared by the sol-gel method and annealed at 600 oC by conventional (CTA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) processes on fluorine-doped tin oxide-coated glass substrates for application as the work electrode for the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). TiO2 thin films are crystallized using a conventional furnace and the proposed RTA process at annealing rates of 5 oCmin-1 and 600 oCmin-1, respectively. The TiO2 thin films are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis. Based on the results, the TiO2 films crystallized by RTA show better crystallization, higher porosity and larger surface area than those of CTA. The short-circuit photocurrent and open-circuit voltage values increased from 5.2 mAcm-2 and 0.6 V for the DSSC with the CTA-derived TiO2 films to 8.3 mAcm-2 and 0.68 V, respectively, for the DSSC containing RTA-derived TiO2 films.