Cylindrical transparent conductive oxide-free dye-sensitized solar cells with treated flat titanium sheet

Conventional dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) require two transparent conductive oxide (TCO) glasses as working and counter electrodes and are one of the most costly components posing an appreciable cost burden for production and commercialization. To circumvent this issue, we propose a TCO-free device structure utilizing titanium (Ti) sheets as a substitute for TCO. This back contact device structure not only allows the removal of the costly TCO component from the working electrode but also enhances the extent of photons absorbed by the photoanode. A flat titanium sheet with microholes (FTS-MH) was successfully applied to fabricate cylindrical TCO-free-DSSCs) with a titanium sheet as a back contact electrode. When the H2O2 surface-treated FTS-MH substrate generating dense anatase TiO2 nanosheets was used as a photoanode, there was a pronounced improvement in efficiency from 5.76% to 8.59%. This was mainly attributed to the lower interfacial resistance facilitated by improved electrical contact between the conducting FTS-MH substrate and mesoporous TiO2 layer since enhancement in the dye loading was only 8.6%.