Abstract
A novel method for preparing flexible porous titania electrode from commercial TiO~2~ particles at low temperature for dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was introduced. In this method, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) as an additive was added to form a good‐quality TiO~2~/HPMC film on indium‐tin‐oxide‐coated polyethylene naphthalate flexible substrate (PEN/ITO). The additive was subsequently decomposed via the TiO~2~ photocatalytic degradation process under 365 nm UV‐light illumination at room temperature to form flexible multiporous TiO~2~ electrode film. Electrochemistry impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis indicated that the resistance of TiO~2~ film markedly decreased, and photocurrent–voltage curves showed that the photocurrent dramatically increased when the additive (HPMC) was removed from the flexible titania electrode film. The photocurrent conversion efficiency was estimated at 3.25% under 100 mW/cm^2^ illuminations using this flexible film as the DSSC photoanode. magnified image
Photocurrent versus voltages of the as‐prepared flexible DSSCs under AM 1.5 at 100 mW/cm^2^ illumination: photoanode made from HPMC‐free TiO~2~ paste (□) and photoanodes made from HPMC/TiO~2~ paste with UV‐light illumination from 0 to 10 h.