TiO₂: Harvesting Sunlight for Clean Energy

Batteries are everywhere. From alkaline batteries in remote controls to rechargeable lithium batteries in cameras, toothbrushes, smartwatches and other electronic gadgets, we cannot live without them. However, they need to be either plugged in for recharging or disposed of after use. What if we could replace all of this with the energy that the sun provides us with every day? Wouldn’t the world be cleaner and greener, with less need for electricity and recycling? This is where solar cells come into play.

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC), sometimes called Grätzel cells after their inventor’s name, are electronic devices that can transform the power of sunlight into electricity. They can operate on their own or be associated with a battery to store excess energy generated during sunny periods and give it back when needed.

It is not necessary for the sun to shine in order for its energy to be captured. Even on cloudy and rainy days, DSSC’s can use light energy to power electronics. The efficiency of DSSC is around 11 to 15%, which is slightly better than other thin film technologies, even though it is still lower than the 15-16% efficiency of standard silicon solar cells often used to put on roofs of houses. However, the cost is attractive and manufacturing is not as complicated.

DSSC are based on a TiO₂ layer covered by a dye that absorbs the light emitted by the sun. The TiO₂ used is generally a high-purity ultrafine TiO₂ as impurities could impact the cell performance.

At Tronox, we offer a wide range of CristalACTiV™ TiO₂ with various options on both purity levels and surface area to best suit the combination of TiO₂/dye for DSSC application. Contact us to learn more about CristalACTiV™ TiO₂ products: https://www.tronox.com/products/ultrafine-and-specialty-titanium-dioxide/