STTR Phase I:Printable flexible TiO2 photoanodes for solar energy conversion and hydrogen generation

小型企业技术转让研究（STTR）第一阶段项目的重点是生产一种灵活、低成本的太阳能电池，这种电池可用于将太阳辐射转化为电能或氢气。拟议的工作将涉及通过在低温可扩展过程中增加锐钛矿网络的连通性来提高染料敏化太阳能电池的效率。在这项工作的过程中，将开发出功率转换效率大于5%的太阳能电池。同时优化这些电极用于生产氢的光电电化学电池。染料敏化太阳能电池尚未成为太阳能市场的主要参与者，部分原因是迄今为止使用低成本柔性基板实现的低效率。这项正在开发的技术将提高电池的效率，降低生产成本，这一组合将直接与其他太阳能收集平台竞争。除了在电力生产中的应用之外，该技术还具有迅速扩展到用于运输需求的氢气生产的潜力。

The Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project focuses on the production of a flexible, low cost, solar cell which can be used for the conversion of solar radiation to electricity or hydrogen. The proposed work will involve working on increasing the efficiency of the dye sensitized solar cell by increasing the connectivity of the anatase network in a low temperature scalable process. Over the course of this work, solar cells with power conversion efficiency greater than 5% will be developed. Concurrently optimization of these electrodes for use in a photoelectrochemical cell for hydrogen production will occur. Dye sensitized solar cells have not become a major player in the solar market partly because of the low efficiencies that have been achieved to date with low-cost flexible substrates. The technology being pursued will both increase the efficiency of the cell and reduce the cost of production, a combination that will directly compete with other solar harvesting platforms. In addition to the use in electricity production, the proposed technology has the potential to expand quickly to hydrogen generation for transportation needs.