Metal-organic Frameworks Derived Porous Cake-like TiO2 as an Efficient Scattering Layer for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

Porous anatase cake-like TiO2 was prepared by annealing Ti-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) MIL-125, which was then used as an efficient scattering layer in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The morphology and structure of the prepared porous cake-like TiO2 were characterized by SEM, TEM, and XRD. DSSCs with porous cake-like TiO2 as an efficient scattering layer exhibited a photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.91%, which was greater than that of single P25 TiO2 based DSSCs (3.89%). The improved photoelectric conversion efficiency was attributed to the crucial role of porous cake-like TiO2 in promoting surface area and incident light scattering performance, as demonstrated by N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm analysis, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) analysis, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).