Enhancement of the Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Containing Nanotubular TiO2 Photoanodes Prepared by Anodizing of Technical Grade Ti Foils and Chemical Modification with Dendrimers

Nanotubular TiO₂ photoanodes prepared by anodizing of technical grade Ti foils were sensitized with ruthenium (II) complexes and later chemically coated with dendrimers in order to improve the performance of solar cells containing ruthenium (II) complex-sensitized nanotubular TiO₂ electrodes. The experimental results indicate that the presence of dendrimers in these semiconductor oxide films minimizes the loss of photoinjected electrons into the TiO₂ nanotubes through the compact TiO₂ layer, which partially tops the nanotubular structure at the beginning of the anodizing process. The presence of dendrimers in these photodevices produced a global photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 2.38% that it was significantly higher than that obtained for cells without dendrimers (0.71%).