In-liquid microwave plasma deposition of TiO2 coating

Recently, Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) has been extensively considered the promising photovoltaic device due to the low fabrication cost, optical properties, and high efficiency of power coversion. The fabrication of TiO2 nanoparticles on conductive glass plays an essential role in the solar cell efficiency since the thickness of the TiO2 coating affects it. In this study, the In-liquid plasma coating method was applied in the DSSC manufacturing. A TiO2 dissolved with distilled water and organic solvent methanol at a low and high distance of plasma ignition to the conductive glass. The result shows that the roughness average of 4.65 µm and 4.37 was observed at 10 mm and 24 mm distance between plasma ignition and conductive glass, respectively. The coating thickness of 13.91 µm and 10.70 µm was observed at 10 mm and 24 mm distance between plasma ignition and conductive glass, respectively. A compact columnar structure with visible crack was observed at the coating surface. The distance of the substrate from the plasma ignition indirectly affects the size of separated clusters supplied to the substrate surface.