Abstract

Nanoporous TiO₂ thin film electrodes were fabricated based on incorporating various amounts of carbon spheres into TiO₂ paste followed by thermal treatment. The size of carbon spheres was prepared from 100 to 200 nm. The TiO₂ electrodes modified with carbon spheres were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-visible spectrophotometer. The performances of dye-sensitized solar cells with carbon-sphere-modified TiO₂ anodes were investigated. The experimental results indicated that 1.0 wt% of carbon spheres with the size of 100 nm added into TiO₂ anode had the most favorable effect on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells compared with other quantities and sizes.  The incipient performance of the dye-sensitized solar cell in the investigation was: a V_oc of 0.71 V, a J_sc of 12.00 mA cm^-2, a fill factor of 56.92% and an efficiency of 4.85%, which was enhanced comparing with that of carbon-free TiO₂ electrode under the same experimental conditions. The results revealed the possibility of fabricating dye-sensitized solar cells using nanometer-sized carbon spheres.

Key words: Carbon spheres, TiO₂ films, dye-sensitized solar cell.