Surface Modification of Aerosol-Assisted CVD Produced TiO₂Thin Film for Dye Sensitised Solar Cell

Abstract

We report a simple and convenient method for the preparation of Ag/TiO 2 thin films supported on indium tin oxide, which was achieved by sonochemical deposition of Ag + on aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposited TiO 2 thin films. Posttreatment was performed on the film by immersion in HCl. The as-prepared composite film was characterised by X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The photoelectrochemical measurements and<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>J</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>V</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>characterisation showed approximately fivefold increase in photocurrent density generation and approximately sevenfold enhancement in dye sensitiser solar cell (DSSC) conversion efficiency, which was achieved after modification of the TiO 2 film with HCl posttreatment and Ag particle deposition. The improved photocurrent density of 933.30 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>μ</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math>A/cm 2 , as well as DSSC power conversion efficiency of 3.63% with high stability, is an indication that the as-synthesised thin film is a potential candidate for solar energy conversion applications.