We use UV(ultraviolet)-O3 treatment to increase the surface area and porosity of TiO2 films in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). After the UV-O3 treatment, surface area and porosity of the TiO2 films were increased, the increased porosity lead to amount of dye loading and solar conversion efficiency was improved. Field emission scanning electron microscopy images clearly showed that the nanocrystalline porosity of films were increased by UV-O3 treatment. The Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller surface area of the TiO2 films were increased from 0.71 cm2/g to 1.31 cm2/g by using UV-O3 treatment for 20 min. Also, UV-O3 treatment of TiO2 films significantly enhanced their solar conversion efficiency. The efficiency of the films without treatment was 4.9%, and was increased to 5.6% by UV-O3 treatment for 20 min. Therefore the process enhanced the solar conversion efficiency of DSSCs, and can be used to develop high sensitivity DSSCs.
