Atomic layer deposition of TiO₂ on aerogel templates: New photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

High surface area mesoporous aerogel films were prepared on conductive glass substrates. Atomic layer deposition was employed to coat the aerogel template conformally with various thicknesses of TiO₂ with subnanometer precision. The TiO₂-coated aerogel membranes were incorporated as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells. The charge diffusion length was found to increase with increasing thickness of TiO₂ leading to increasing current and efficiency. Initial devices exhibited power conversion efficiencies of up to 4.3% under 100 W m^-2 light intensity. The novel fabrication technique provides a facile, oxide materials general method to prepare high surface area pseudo-one-dimensional DSSC photoanodes with promising performance.