Influence of TiCl₄Treatment on Structure and Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) electrodes are vital components for the fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). Titanium tetrachloride (TiCl 4 ) treatment is usually adopted as a pre- or post-treatment for the improvement of TiO 2 electrodes in DSSCs. Previous reports associated these treatments with the improvement of bonding strength between the fluorinated tin oxide (FTO) substrate and the porous TiO 2 layer, blocking the charge recombination at the interface between the FTO and electrolyte, but pre- and post-treatment effects were not studied simultaneously. In this study, three types of TiO 2 electrode, untreated, post-treated, and pre- and post-treated, were fabricated. After the TiCl 4 treatment of TiO 2 electrodes, they were immersed in a dye solution and cells were assembled. Cell performance was measured using a solar light simulator at an intensity of 1000 W·m -2 . The best result was achieved by the pre- and post-treated TiO 2 electrode. The performance of the cell was improved by increasing the thickness of electrodes and this would raise the overall conversion efficiency up to 7.5%.