Preparations and Analyses of Titanium Dioxide and Silver Nanowire Composite Thin Films

The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is the third generation of polycrystalline silicon solar cells, offering advantages such as low cost, simple manufacturing processes, and significant development potential. Compared with traditional silicon-based solar cells, DSSCs have lower production costs and can be fabricated on flexible substrates, making them appropriate for a wide range of applications, including wearable devices and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). Silver nanowires possess excellent surface plasmon resonance, high conductivity, and low resistance, enabling rapid electron transfer. These characteristics make silver nanowires ideal for creating composite materials for photoanodes. Silver nanowires can significantly enhance the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solar cells, thereby improving their overall performance. We incorporated different concentrations of silver nanowires into titanium dioxide (TiO2) slurry and coated it onto indium tin oxide (ITO) conductive glass substrates using the doctor blade method. After coating, the samples underwent a molding process to achieve an average film thickness of approximately 10 micrometers. Subsequently, the samples were annealed at a high temperature. The annealing process improved the crystallinity and conductivity of the films while eliminating stresses and defects generated during fabrication. This fabrication method is simple and controllable for large-scale production. The effects of annealing on the properties of TiO₂ films with added silver nanowires were explored by measuring surface morphology, crystalline structure, conductivity, and photoelectric conversion efficiency. The research results provide theoretical foundations for optimizing the manufacturing processes of DSSCs and broadening applications.