Fabrication of High Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on TiO2 Nanoparticles Embedded in Ti Substrate.

We have embedded a TiO2 nanoparticle (NP) photoelectrode in a Ti substrate to improve the cell efficiency of conventional TiO2 NP based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using Ti substrate. Compared to the conventional standing-type (TiO2 NPs on Ti substrate) DSSCs, the embedded-type (TiO2 NPs embedded in Ti substrate) DSSCs have shown an approximately 35% improvement in power conversion efficiency due to the improvement of J(sc). The embedded-type DSSCs have more charge transport paths than do standing-type DSSCs due to the increase of contact area between the TiO2 NP sidewall and the Ti substrate. This increased contact area decreases the electrical resistance and increases the charge collection efficiency, which leads to the improvement of J(sc). The embedded-type NP-DSSCs are very effective DSSC structures for enhancing the power conversion efficiency of Ti substrate based DSSCs.