Issue 44, 2010

Anomalous rheological behavior in chemically modified TiO2 colloidal pastes prepared for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Binder-free titania pastes with high viscosity were developed for the preparation of electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells on plastic substrates. The rheological behaviour of the ethanol-based titania pastes with the addition of ammonia, hydrochloric acid and water was investigated. The change in the viscosity could be correlated with the measured zeta-potential of the colloidal titania pastes. A newly developed nano-scratch test was used to evaluate the mechanical strength or the inter-particle connectivity of the titania films prepared under different conditions. Improved inter-particle connectivity and solar cell performance were found for the pastes containing acid or water, but no such improvements were seen for the pastes containing ammonia. A maximum light-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency of 4.9% (under one sun – 100 mW cm−2) was obtained for the plastic-based dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated by the modified titania pastes.

Graphical abstract: Anomalous rheological behavior in chemically modified TiO2 colloidal pastes prepared for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Jun 2010
Accepted
02 Aug 2010
First published
23 Sep 2010

J. Mater. Chem., 2010,20, 9954-9961

Anomalous rheological behavior in chemically modified TiO2 colloidal pastes prepared for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells

H. C. Weerasinghe, G. V. Franks, J. D. Plessis, G. P. Simon and Y. Cheng, J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 9954 DOI: 10.1039/C0JM02063J

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