Electrospun TiO2 microspheres as a scattering layer for CdS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

TiO2 microspheres (M-TiO2) were synthesized by electrospinning technique and used as a scattering layer on top of a nanocrystalline TiO2 (P25) film for CdS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. The CdS sensitized TiO2 electrodes were fabricated by microwave-assisted chemical bath deposition technique, and the photovoltaic performance of the as-prepared cells was investigated. The results show that a high power conversion efficiency of 1.49% is achieved for the cell with a M-TiO2 scattering layer at one sun illumination (AM 1.5 G, 100 mW cm−2), which is an increase of 28.4% compared to the cell without a scattering layer (1.16%).

► Electrospinning technique is employed to synthesize TiO2 microspheres.
► TiO2 microspheres are used as a scattering layer for CdS sensitized solar cells.
► As-prepared cell achieves a power conversion efficiency of 1.49%.