Electrodeposition of TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite for dye-sensitized solar cell

For the working electrode of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC), TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite materials were electrodeposited on transparent fluorine doped tin oxide-coated glass by cathodic electrodeposition at room temperature. The electrode and DSC fabricated with TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite were characterized with photocurrent density, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and a photovoltaic performance test. On the electrodeposition, the addition of an appropriate amount of SiO2 in the bath containing TiO2 slurry was essential to achieve the superior crystallinity, photocurrent density and photovoltaic performance of the resulting TiO2/SiO2 electrode, which was significantly superior to a bare TiO2 electrode. This enhanced performance of optimized TiO2/SiO2 electrode was ascribed to the role of SiO2 as an energy barrier, increasing the physical separation of injected electrons and oxidized dyes/redox couple, and thereby retarding the recombination reactions in the resulting DSC.