Preparation and Properties of Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Flexible dye-sensitized solar cell has attracted much attention due to its advantages of low cost and easy production. Flexible dye-sensitized solar cell comprised of a nanocrystalline TiO2 film electrode based on Ti-metal substrate and a counter-electrode based on plastic substrate is investigated. In order to improve the photovoltaic performance, the different methods including electrophoretic deposition under low DC field, electrochemical anodization by DC and pulse voltages and screen printing in cooperation with high-temperature sintering were employed to prepare Ti substrate based nanocrystalline TiO2 film electrodes and TiO2 nanotube film electrodes, and low-temperature methods of electrochemical deposition and chemical reduction were used to prepare Pt and carbon counter-electrodes on the plastic substrate. The mechanism and characters of these methods and the techniques of optimization were analyzed and discussed. The performance of the nanocrystalline TiO2 film electrodes and counter-electrodes prepared by different methods were measured and evaluated by their photovoltaic behavior measurements. Flexible dye-sensitized solar cells with Ti substrate based TiO2 photoelectrodes and plastic substrate based Pt counter-electrodes prepared by different methods were fabricated. The maximal light to electricity conversion efficiency of 6. 74% was achieved.