L. Gonzalez-García, I. González-Valls, M. Lira-Cantu, A. Barranco, A.R. González-Elipe
Energy & Environmental Science, 4 (2011) 3426-3435
doi: 10.1039/C0EE00489H

Transparent thin film electrodes made of vertically aligned nanocolumns of TiO₂ with well-controlled oblique angles were grown by physical vapor deposition at glancing incidence (PVD-GLAD). For an electrode thickness of 500 nm, we report a 40% variation on solar cell efficiency (from 0.6% to 1.04%) when the deposition angle was modified between 60° and 85°. Transparent thicker films with higher surface area deposited at the optimal angle of 70° were grown with a zigzag morphology which confers high mechanical strength to the thin films. Using this topology, the application of an electrode thickness of 3 µm in a DSC resulted in a power conversion efficiency of 2.78% maintaining electrode transparency.