Optimization of electrospun TiO ₂ nanofibers photoanode film for dye‐sensitized solar cells through interfacial pre‐treatment, controllable calcination, and surface post‐treatment

Dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are generally viewed as next generation photovoltaic devices. Electrospun TiO₂ nanofibers (NFs) film can be used to construct photoanode for DSSCs. A systematic strategy to optimize such a novel photoanode material of DSSCs was elaborated in this paper. A main drawback of NFs photoanode is the poor adhesion of ceramic NFs film to its conductive glass substrate. This problem can be well solved by sandwiching a transition layer between the overlaid NFs film and the underlaid glass substrate through an interfacial spin‐coating pre‐treatment. After electrospinning, a controllable calcination is also indispensable for obtaining an ideal nanofibrous mat with good morphology and adhesion. The choice of calcination parameters including temperature, holding time, and heating rate was discussed in detail. In addition, a surface TiCl₄ post‐treatment can further improve adhesion as well as strength for the NFs photoanode film. And the performance of the resulting DSSCs will benefit from the TiCl₄ post‐treatment. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.