Optical investigation of porous TiO2 in mesostructured solar cells

Porous TiO2 films are a crucial part of mesostructured solar cells (MSCs), both dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the literature does not provide a clear description of the optical properties especially of the refractive index and scattering for those films relevant to MSCs. In DSSCs, two different porous TiO2 layers are included, the mesoporous active layer and the blocking layer. While the first is essential for the charge separation, electron collection and ion conduction, the second is intended for suppressing the loss of generated electrons to the electrolyte. Both layers consist of the same chemical compound, TiO2, but they have different porosities. For PSCs, the perovskite is deposited on a mesoporous TiO2 structure for enhancing the I–V characteristics This paper investigates TiO2 films really used in fabricated MSCs. We utilize a technique allowing the determination of the effective refractive index and the film porosity for two different film kinds fabricated using sol-gel methods, discussed in our previous work, to determine the thickness of TiO2 films typically used in fabricating MSCs.