Effect of Annealing Temperature on the Performances and Electrochemical Properties of TiO2 Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The influences of thermal annealing on the microstructure, dy -ads rption, surface area, electrical properties and power conversion efficiency of well-crystallized TiO2 photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells have been systematically investigated. Although the heat treatment of TiO2 photoelectrodes at higher temperatures was found to result in an enhanced electron transport, it was accompanied with a reduced specific surface area and less adsorbed dye molecules. A power conversion efficiency of 5.1±0.2% was obtained with a negligible deviation for the samples heat-treated at temperatures ranging from 350 C to 600 C.