ENHANCED INTERCONNECTION OF TiO 2 NANOPARTICLES USING ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION FOR FLEXIBLE DYE-SENSITIZED SOLAR CELLS WITH PLASTIC SUBSTRATES

In order to improve the interconnection of TiO 2 photoelectrode for the flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with plastic substrates, thin TiO 2 layers are additionally introduced to the surface of main TiO 2 nanoparticles by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at low temperature. The ALD-induced TiO 2 thin layers on porous films effectively reduced the internal electrical resistance, leading to the facilitated electron transport in DSSCs. As a result, DSSCs with ALD-induced TiO 2 thin layers (thickness of ~ 1.5 nm) showed better power conversion efficiency of 3.09%, which is 33% enhancement compared with that without ALD-induced TiO 2 thin layers (2.32%).