Abstract

--- - We develop a facile route for deposition of mesoporous TiO2 thick films over several micrometers by sol-gel and evaporation-induced self-assembly processes using Pluronic F127. The light harvesting of deposited films by two different methods (i.e., using a viscous gel and a paste) is studied by controlling their mesoscopic characteristics, phase composition and thickness for dye-sensitized solar cells applications. It is revealed that the mesoscopic films have mixtures of anatase and rutile crystal structures with surface area in the range 50.6-94.6 m(2)/g. We observe that the mesoporous TiO2 films prepared under optimized conditions improve light harvesting and dye loading of photoelectrodes. The dye-sensitized solar cell made of optimized mesoporous film shows power conversion efficiency and short circuit current density of 6.35% and 13.49 mA/cm(2), respectively. - "[GRAPHICS]" - .