TiO2/dye/electrolyte Interface Engineering by Atomic Layer Deposited Ultra Thin SiO2 for Improved Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Performance

The short circuit density (JSC) and open circuit voltage (VOC) of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were improved from 9.8 to 17.8 mA/cm2 and 728 to 743 mV by depositing an ultra thin SiO2 layer on mesoporous TiO2 using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) method. X ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the growth of SiO2 on mesoporous TiO2 surface. It was also observed that the enhancement in DSSC performance highly depends on the thickness of the ALD grown SiO2 layers on mesoporous TiO2. Compared to the reference DSSC which used untreated TiO2, incorporation of 5 ALD cycles (about 5 atomic layers) of SiO2 on mesoporous TiO2 resulted in 80 % enhancement (E) in the photoconversion efficiency from 4 to 7.2%. It is believed that the deposition of the ultra thin SiO2 film on mesoporous TiO2 modifies the density and activity of the surface states and an optimized layer thickness (5 cycles) leads to significant improvement in the DSSC performance. The enhanced photovoltaic performance was confirmed by dark and illuminated I-V and external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements.