Dye-sensitized solar cells with TiO2 nanocrystalline films prepared by conventional and rapid thermal annealing processes

Titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) thin films are prepared by the sol–gel method and annealed at 600 °C by conventional (CTA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) processes on fluorine-doped tin oxide -coated glass substrates for application as the work electrode for the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC). TiO 2 thin films are crystallized using a conventional furnace and the proposed RTA process at annealing rates of 5 °Cmin −1 and 600 °Cmin −1 , respectively. The TiO 2 thin films are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis. Based on the results, the TiO 2 films crystallized by RTA show better crystallization, higher porosity and larger surface area than those of CTA. The short-circuit photocurrent and open-circuit voltage values increased from 5.2 mAcm −2 and 0.6 V for the DSSC with the CTA-derived TiO 2 films to 8.3 mAcm −2 and 0.68 V, respectively, for the DSSC containing RTA-derived TiO 2 films.