Facile synthesis of TiO ₂ films for dye sensitized solar cells using atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge jet

TiO ₂ nanoparticles were synthesized by a facile and rapid method of an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge jet (DBD jet) for the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) and other potential applications. TiO ₂ films were deposited on fluorine-doped tin dioxide (FTO) glass using TiCl ₄ and O ₂ as precursors and argon as carrier gas. The plasma was generated at a power of ∼ 40 W and the deposition was carried out for ∼ 5 min. TiO ₂ films with thicknesses ∼40 uμm were used as mesoporous photoanodes in DSC and their performance was compared with cells fabricated using commercial nanoparticles (P25, Degussa). In this work, we report the DBD jet deposition of TiO ₂ films FTO glass at rates that are ca. × 30 faster than conventional plasma CVD. Photoanodes fabricated by the DBD jet method resulted in approximately 50% higher photoconversion efficiency than ones prepared from P25 nanoparticles.