Patent ID: 8455295

Claim:
A method for low temperature sintering of metal oxide paste coating the electrode of dye-sensitised solar cells, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing an electrode; b) preparing a colloid comprising a metal oxide, a solvent and a binder; c) adding from more than 0 up to 20 wt %, based on the weight of the metal oxide, of a thermal catalyst to the colloid of step b); d) optionally pre-treating the electrode of step a) with a metal oxide precursor; e) applying the colloid of step c) to the optionally pre-treated electrode; f) heating the coated electrode to a temperature of at most 300° C. for sintering the metal oxide followed by cooling to a temperature of about 100° C.; g) optionally post-treating the metal oxide film of step f) with a metal oxide precursor and sintering again at a temperature of at most 300° C. followed by cooling to a temperature of about 100° C.; and h) retrieving the electrode coated with sintered metal oxide.