Effects of TiO2 film on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells based on ionic liquid electrolyte

Photo correlation spectroscopy was used to measure the particle size distribution of TiO2 films. Other parameters, such as porosity, BET surface area, average pore size, crystallite size D-101, distribution of pore size etc. were also measured. The effects of these parameters on the ionic liquid based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) were studied. It was concluded that the particle size distribution of nanocrystalline TiO2 played an important role on the performance of DSC. The narrow particle size distribution of nanoerystalline TiO2 increased the efficiency of DSC, while the wide distribution decreased the efficiency of DSC. From the result above, it was also concluded that the photo correlation spectroscopy was a good method to identify the performance of TiO2 films. Based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, we found that the particle size distribution could affect the electronic contact between the TiO2 layers as well. The narrow particle size distribution made the electronic contact between TiO2 layers better than the wide particle size distribution of the TiO2 films, and then better the electronic contact, higher the efficiency of the DSC.