Dye-sensitized solar cells with TiO2 nanocrystalline films prepared by conventional and rapid thermal annealing processes

Titanium oxide (TiO2) thin films are prepared by the sol–gel method and annealed at 600 °C by conventional (CTA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) processes on fluorine-doped tin oxide -coated glass substrates for application as the work electrode for the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). TiO2 thin films are crystallized using a conventional furnace and the proposed RTA process at annealing rates of 5 °Cmin−1 and 600 °Cmin−1, respectively. The TiO2 thin films are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis. Based on the results, the TiO2 films crystallized by RTA show better crystallization, higher porosity and larger surface area than those of CTA. The short-circuit photocurrent and open-circuit voltage values increased from 5.2 mAcm−2 and 0.6 V for the DSSC with the CTA-derived TiO2 films to 8.3 mAcm−2 and 0.68 V, respectively, for the DSSC containing RTA-derived TiO2 films.