Low-temperature electrodeposition approach leading to robust mesoscopic anatase TiO2 films

Snehangshu Patra (1, 2) , Christian Andriamiadamanana (1, 2) , Michal Tulodziecki (2) , Carine Davoisne (1, 2) , Pierre-Louis Taberna (3, 1) , Frédéric Sauvage (1, 2)

1 RS2E - Réseau sur le stockage électrochimique de l'énergie
2 LRCS - Laboratoire réactivité et chimie des solides - UMR CNRS 7314
3 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux

Anatase TiO2, a wide bandgap semiconductor, likely the most worldwide studied inorganic material for many practical applications, offers unequal characteristics for applications in photocatalysis and sun energy conversion. However, the lack of controllable, cost-effective methods for scalable fabrication of homogeneous thin films of anatase TiO2 at low temperatures (ie. < 100 °C) renders up-to-date deposition processes unsuited to flexible plastic supports or to smart textile fibres, thus limiting these wearable and easy-to-integrate emerging technologies. Here, we present a very versatile template-free method for producing robust mesoporous films of nanocrystalline anatase TiO2 at temperatures of/or below 80 °C. The individual assembly of the mesoscopic particles forming ever-demonstrated high optical quality beads of TiO2 affords, with this simple methodology, efficient light capture and confinement into the photo-anode, which in flexible dye-sensitized solar cell technology translates into a remarkable power conversion efficiency of 7.2% under A.M.1.5G conditions.

Mots clés: TiO2; Electrodeposition; Solar cell

Domaines: Matériaux; Matériaux

Snehangshu Patra, Christian Andriamiadamanana, Michal Tulodziecki, Carine Davoisne, Pierre-Louis Taberna, et al.. Low-temperature electrodeposition approach leading to robust mesoscopic anatase TiO2 films. Scientific Reports, 2016, 6, pp.21588. ⟨10.1038/srep21588⟩. ⟨hal-01473092⟩