Deposition of porous titanium oxide thin films as anode material for dye sensitized solar cells

Jonathan Dervaux, Pierre-Antoine Cormier, Stephanos Konstantinidis, Riccardo Di Ciuccio, Olivier Coulembier, Philippe Dubois, Rony Snyders

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    Abstract

    Crystallized nanoporous TiO2 thin films were synthesized by combining reactive magnetron sputtering
    and Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD). The growth temperature, the bias voltage and the rotation speed
    of the substrate were studied with the aim to grow nanoporous films presenting anatase constitution
    which are suitable for Dye Sensitive Solar Cells (DSSC) applications.
    By fixing the tilt angle at 85, we have shown that an increase of the growth temperature up to 450 C
    leads to the formation of nanoporous anatase film with a grain size up to 24 nm while by applying a bias
    voltage leads to a densification of the films as evidenced by scanning electron microscopy and by X-ray
    diffraction. On the other hand, by rotating the substrate (from 0.1 to 10/s) during the deposition process,
    films with larger columns and higher surface roughness (from 45 to 60 nm) were obtained due to an
    enhanced shadowing effect.
    Preliminary dye impregnation experiments have shown that the highest light absorption values are
    obtained for the films prepared without bias and with no rotation, which is supported by the microstructure
    of these films presenting the highest porosity. These films, presenting an anatase constitution,
    are potentially good candidates as an anode in DSSC applications
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)213-220
    Number of pages8
    JournalVacuum
    Volume114
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

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