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Nanostructured TiO2 thick films aided by new viscous gels for dye-sensitized solar cell applications

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials for energy, environment and building applications
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Abstract

We develop a facile route for deposition of mesoporous TiO2 thick films over several micrometers by sol–gel and evaporation-induced self-assembly processes using Pluronic F127. The light harvesting of deposited films by two different methods (i.e., using a viscous gel and a paste) is studied by controlling their mesoscopic characteristics, phase composition and thickness for dye-sensitized solar cells applications. It is revealed that the mesoscopic films have mixtures of anatase and rutile crystal structures with surface area in the range 50.6–94.6 m2/g. We observe that the mesoporous TiO2 films prepared under optimized conditions improve light harvesting and dye loading of photoelectrodes. The dye-sensitized solar cell made of optimized mesoporous film shows power conversion efficiency and short circuit current density of 6.35% and 13.49 mA/cm2, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

M.R. Mohammadi would like to thank the financial support by Sharif University of Technology through research grant no. G940309, and especially the financial support by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Street, Tehran, Iran

    Z. Babamahdi & M.R. Mohammadi

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  1. Z. Babamahdi
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  2. M.R. Mohammadi
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Correspondence to M.R. Mohammadi.

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Babamahdi, Z., Mohammadi, M. Nanostructured TiO2 thick films aided by new viscous gels for dye-sensitized solar cell applications. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 82, 541–550 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4308-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-017-4308-0

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