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Abstract :
[en] Ordered, mesoporous films are prepared by template-assisted sol-gel techniques such as dip-coating from a precursors solution. However, monolayer films are only a few hundred nanometers thick and present a limited surface area of active material resulting in poor photovoltaic performances. Therefore it is needed to increase the film thickness. A multilayer deposition process for anatase mesoporous film has been reported in the literature in 2005 by Zukalova and all. Unfortunately, later researches have shown a surface area limitation despite the increase of film thickness due to the repeated thermal treatments applied to the layers. In this study, we have investigated the microstructural evolution of a single mesoporous TiO2 layer submitted to repeated thermal treatments. The modifications are discussed in terms of film thickness, surface area, anatase crystals size and global crystallinity. Besides, we propose an alternative thermal treatment designed in an attempt to overcome the limitations induced by repeated calcinations. We have followed and compared the properties of mesoporous films submitted to both thermal treatments by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and environmental poroellipsometry (EEP). Those results show the importance of the tuning of thermal treatment when multilayers films are envisaged for DSSC applications. Indeed, this study quantifies the maximum perturbation encountered by the first layer during the preparation of a multilayer (up to 12) coating, which is submitted to a multistep calcination. Finally, the photovoltaic performances of assembled cells have been evaluated.
