Kyaw, A. K. K.Sun, X. W.Zhao, J. L.Wang, J. X.Zhao, D. W.Wei, X. F.Liu, X. W.Demir, Hilmi VolkanWu, T.2016-02-082016-02-082011-01-110022-3727http://hdl.handle.net/11693/22024We report on top-illuminated, fluorine tin oxide/indium tin oxide-free (FTO/ITO-free), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) using room-temperature- processed ZnO layers on metal substrates as the working electrodes and Pt-coated Ga-doped ZnO layers (GZO) as the counter electrodes. These top-illuminated DSCs with GZO render comparable efficiency to those employing commercial FTO counter electrodes. Despite a lower current density, the top-illuminated DSCs result in a higher fill factor than conventional DSCs due to a low ohmic loss at the electrode/semiconductor interface. The effect of metal substrate on the performance of the resulting top-illuminated DSCs is also studied by employing various metals with different work functions. Ti is shown to be a suitable metal to be used as the working electrode in the top-illuminated device architecture owing to its low ohmic loss at the electrode/semiconductor interface, minimum catalytic activity on redox reactions and high resistance to corrosion by liquid electrolytes.EnglishCatalytic activityCounter electrodesDevice architecturesDye-sensitized solar cellFill factorGa-doped ZnOHigh resistanceLiquid electrolytesMetal substrateArticle10.1088/0022-3727/44/4/045102