Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with TiO(2) Stripes

A TiO(2) strip array with a thickness of 90 nm was fabricated by photolithography and physical vapor deposition. This work utilized the chemical and physical methods to fabricate the TiO(2) strip array. A porous semiconductor layer made of TiO(2) nanoparticles was coated on the TiO(2) strip array. The TiO(2) strip array has a one-dimensional protrusive structure. The energy conversion efficiency (4.38%) of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with the TiO(2) strip array exceeded that (3.20%) of a DSSC without a TiO(2) strip array by 37%. In addition, this result was verified by the electrochemical impedance spectra of the two DSSCs. Therefore, the TiO(2) strip array can be used to increase the energy conversion efficiencies of DSSCs. The large energy conversion efficiency of the DSSC with the TiO(2) strip array arises from the large surface area of the one-dimensional protrusive structure and its specific electron transport paths. The DSSC with the TiO(2) strip array has advantages of economical production cost, easy fabrication, and boosting energy conversion efficiency.