Enhancing Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Efficiency through Spin-Coated TiO2 Blocking Films: A Performance Analysis

The solution-based spin coating technique is used to spin-coat blocking layers on FTO substrates utilizing titanium tetraisopropoxide sol as a Ti-precursor.The results of the characterization studies indicated that the deposition of one to eight layers led to the production of anatase TiO2 blocking films, which exhibited a decrease in optical transmission within the visible area.The field emission scanning electron microscopy images revealed the occurrence of liquid phase sintering inside the films, forming a compact and homogeneous film consisting of seven deposition layers.The contact angle measurement revealed that the film, which underwent seven deposition layers, exhibited the least hydrophilic characteristics.The Doctor blade technique was employed to fabricate TiO2 photoanode films on FTO substrates coated with blocking films.Anatase TiO2 was created through a precipitation reaction and subsequently annealed at 450 C for 2 hours.These processed TiO2 films were utilized in the preparation of the photoanode films.The DSSC with a blocking film consisting of seven deposition layers (BL 7) has the highest photovoltaic performance, with a short-circuit current density (JSC) of 3.42 mA/cm 2 , an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.62 V, a fill factor (FF) of 57.0, and overall power conversion efficiency () of 1.24% as compared with pristine FTO substrate overall power conversion efficiency () of 0.21%.