Photovoltaic performances of DSCs fabricated with a screen-printable TiO2-submicrosphere paste

In this work, mesoporous anatase submicrospheres, consisted of packed individual 6 nm nanocrystallites, were prepared by hydrolysis of titanium glycolate and compared with TiO2 nanoparticles obtained by the hydrothermal method. The submicrometer spheres show an average diameter of 0.40 mu m, while the TiO2 nanoparticle diameter is 20 nm. Here, we developed a screen-printable submicrosphere paste to deposit bifunctional films with increased light scattering and higher dye uptake. In dye-sensitized solar cells, these films lead to a 32% increase in conversion efficiencies when compared to those with standard TiO2 nanoparticles and can be even improved after TiCl4 post-treatment. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.