Recommendations for future work

This project has made a significant step forward by showing how inkjet technology can be used to manufacture DSSCs; however there are many ways in which this work can be further extended to take the technology closer to market. In order to improve the poor fill factors (FF) of the devices reported in this work, post-treatment of the porous TiO2 anodes with zirconium oxide (ZrO2) would prevent charge

recombination thus enhancing the efficiency of the cells [82]. There are also many nanomaterials that could be investigated to replace the traditional ones.

Although FTO/ITO replacements were not used within this work, several

nanomaterial solutions were identified which could provide similar performance. Silver nanowires, graphene and single walled carbon nanotubes have produced promising results and appear to be the best candidates so far [65-68]. For these materials to succeed, they need to be specially formulated to be used as a coating. The stability of the inks is vital to provide repeatability and reliability of the print and therefore further work is required to establish the industrial viability of the inks. Improving the performance of the printed devices would further demonstrate the commercial potential of the process.

180

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