TiO2 mesoporous thick films with large-pore structure for dye-sensitized solar cell

Large-pore mesoporous titania films with thickness up to 3.5 microm were prepared by dip-coating method using block copolymer Pluronic P123 as structure directing agent. The highly transparent multilayer mesoporous film shows a large pore size of 8.9 nm with surface area of 129.4 m2 x g(-1). The mesopore structure with continuous crystalline framework was maintained after being calcined at 400 degrees C. Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) based on the large-pore mesoporous film exhibited an enhanced light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 6.01%, due to the thick large-pore mesoporous film with continuous crystalline framework structure.