Painted steel mounted dye sensitised solar cells: titanium metallisation using magnetron sputtering

Dye sensitised solar cells (DSCs) have been assembled directly onto a prepainted construction steel substrate. This has been achieved by chemically isolating the underlying substrate through the application of a high temperature resistant organic polymer rendered conducting by applying a 1.2 mu m collection electrode of magnetron sputtered titanium. The resultant DSCs achieved 2.9% energy conversion efficiency under one sun illumination compared to 3.2% for identical cells manufactured on 1 mm thick Ti coupons. The slight reduction in efficiency reflects the increasing resistance of the substrate 1.2 mu m Ti layer, which results from microcracking during the titania sintering step.