Progress in TiO2 thin-film for dye-sensitized solar cell

Owing to the double pressures of limited regular energy and severely-destroyed environment, solar energy was more and more worthy of attention. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were one of the most promising new generation photovoltaic devices, which had the advantages of high cost-efficiency ratio, low weight, and simple fabrication technique. In general, solar cells consisted of photo-anodes made of nano-structured TiO2 films, dye-sensitizers, electrolytes and counter-electrodes. Nano TiO2 was important in many fields due to its special structure, performance and excellent semiconductor photocatalytic characteristics, and it was the preferred materials of DSCs. The development and application of TiO2 photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were reviewed in this article. The preparation methods for TiO2 photo-anodes were summarized. Fabricating TiO2 porous films with high specific surface area, quick charge transport, excellent light harvesting and efficient suppression of charge recombination was the direction of further development. ©, 2014, Editorial Office of Chinese Journal of Rare Metals. All right reserved.