Comparative analysis between Commercial and Hydrothermal TiO2 films for their use in Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

A comparison has been drawn between purely crystalline single phase mesoporous anatase TiO₂ film synthesized via hydrothermal sol-gel process and mixed TiO₂ film containing both anatase and rutile phases  deposited by using commercial P25 TiO₂ powder. Phase confirmations have been made by x-ray diffraction analysis. Dye-sensitized solar cells have been built by using these two kinds of films and a comparative study has been made in context of their current-density, voltage performance curve under 1 sun illumination. It has been observed that the open-circuit voltage (V_OC) for both the cells is approximately similar but there exists a large difference between the values of short-circuit current density (J_SC). The conversion efficiency for the commercial TiO₂ based cell is about 27.5% of the efficiency value for anatase based cell. Thus, anatase TiO₂ films prove their better candidature for dye-sensitized solar cells.