Sputter deposition and surface treatment of TiO2 films for dye-sensitized solar cells using reactive RF plasma

Abstract Sputter deposition followed by surface treatment was studied using reactive RF plasma as a method for preparing titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) films on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Anatase structure TiO 2 films deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering under the conditions of Ar/O 2 (5%) mixtures, RF power of 600 W and substrate temperature of 400 °C were surface-treated by inductive coupled plasma (ICP) with Ar/O 2 mixtures at substrate temperature of 400 °C, and thus the films were applied to the DSCs. The TiO 2 films made on these experimental bases exhibited the BET specific surface area of 95 m 2 /g, the pore volume of 0.3 cm 2 /g and the TEM particle size of ∼ 25 nm. The DSCs made of this TiO 2 material exhibited an energy conversion efficiency of about 2.25% at 100 mW/cm 2 light intensity.