Effects of paste components on the properties of screen-printed porous TiO2 film for dye-sensitized solar cells

The effects of paste components on the properties of porous TiO2 film electrodes prepared through screen-printing technique were investigated in order to efficiently control and optimize the main fabrication step of the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The screen-printed porous TiO2 films were characterized by means of spectroscopy (XRD), microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical method and evaluated as part of DSSCs for the energy conversion. The experimental results indicate that the microstructural characteristics of the printed films and the performances of the corresponding DSSCs are dependent on the paste compositions. The experimental repeatability is nice and the properties of the film are uniform after the optimization of paste composition.