Suspension plasma spraying of TiO2 for the manufacture of photovoltaic cells

Highly porous TiO2 coatings have been produced by suspension plasma spraying on ITO coated glass substrates. The deposition process could be optimized so that fine/nano grained highly porous coatings were obtained. Mean crystallite sizes well below 50 nm could be achieved in the coatings for the anatase phase.Special emphasis was on the establishment of a high volume fraction of the desired anatase phase. The best coatings showed values of about 90% of anatase phase.With these coatings photovoltaic cells could be produced. Different levels of layer thickness and porosity as well as contents of anatase phase have been investigated.In the paper details on the microstructure of the cells as well as the photovoltaic performance will be given.