Fabrication of dye sensitized solar cell using TiO2 coated carbon nanotubes

We fabricated a dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) using TiO2 coated multi-wall carbon nanotubes (TiO2-CNI's). Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have excellent electrical conductivity and good chemical stability. We introduced CNTs in DSCs to improve solar cell performance through reduction of series resistance. TiO2-CNTs were obtained by Sol-Gel method. Compared with a conventional TiO2 cell, the TiO2-CNTs content (0.1 wt.%) cell showed similar to 50% increase in conversion efficiency, which is attributed to the increase in short circuit current density (J(sc)). The enhancement in J(sc) occurs due to improvement in interconnectivity between the TiO2 particles and the TiO2-CNTs in the porous TiO2 film. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.