ABSTRACT
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have become promising alternatives to conventional silicon-based solar cells due to their ease of fabrication and use of cost-effective materials [1–3]. The conventional dye-sensitized liquid junction solar cells are based on the sandwich architecture that mainly employs two fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates with the electrolyte sandwiched between them. One FTO substrate is coated with mesoporous TiO2, onto which the dyes are anchored, and serves as the working electrode for light harvesting and electron collection. The other one, acting as a cathode, is platinized to form ohmic contact with the electrolyte. It is noted that FTO glass is the major cost in the whole device [4]. Moreover, its heavy weight due to its thickness limits future application for lightweight wearable devices. For the aim of low cost and light weight, elimination of one FTO substrate for DSSCs was proposed to fabricate the monolithic device structure.
