Light Scattering Amplification on Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Assembled by Hollyhock-shaped CdS-TiO2 Composites

To investigate the scattering layer effect of a TiO2 multilayer in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), we designed a new DSSC system, assembled with a CdS-TiO2 scattering layer electrode. A high-magnification SEM image exhibited hollyhock-like particles with a width of 1.5-2.0 mu m that were aggregated into 10-nm clumps in a hexagonal petal shape. The efficiency was higher in the DSSC assembled with a CdS-TiO2 scattering layer than in the DSSC assembled with TiO2-only layers, due to the decreased resistance in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The short-circuit current density (J(sc)) was increased by approximately 7.26% and the open-circuit voltage (V-oc) by 2.44% over the 1.0 wt % CdS-TiO2 composite scattering layer and the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) in the maximum peak was also enhanced by about 5.0%, compared to the DSSC assembled without the CdS-TiO2 scattering layer.