One-step microwave calcination of ZrO2-coated TiO2 electrodes for use in dye-sensitized solar cells

TiO 2 and ZrO 2 -coated TiO 2 working electrodes were produced and calcined at 450 °C in a 2.45 GHz microwave furnace prior to incorporation in dye-sensitized solar cells. The bare TiO 2 working electrodes increased from 0.2% up to 2.4% efficient after microwave calcination at a light intensity of 1 Sun. The efficiency was further increased to 3.1% for the ZrO 2 -coated TiO 2 core-shell electrodes. The increased photovoltaic performance was due to improvements in the open circuit voltage ( V oc ) from 692 to 719 mV and the short circuit current density ( J sc ) from 6.24 to 6.56 mA cm −2 . .