A facile route to fabricate an anodic TiO2 nanotube-nanoparticle hybrid structure for high efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells.
The relatively low internal surface area of anodized TiO(2) nanotube arrays (TNAs) limits dye adsorption and light capturing in TNA-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Here, water treatment of as-anodized TNAs at room temperature was used to tailor the geometry of TNA walls in a controllable way, leading to a hybrid tube wall structure with the outer shell in a tubular morphology and the inner surface consisting of small particles. To enable front-side illumination in DSSCs, the TNAs with porous inner walls were transferred to transparent conductive oxide substrates by a self-detaching and transfer technique. The roughened water-treated TNAs show significantly enhanced internal surface area, leading to improved dye-loading and light-harvesting capabilities. Optimized performance was achieved after water treatment for 2 days, with a power conversion efficiency of 6.06%, increased by ∼33% compared to conventional TNAs. Furthermore, the hybrid TNA nanostructure provides excellent electron transfer and recombination characteristics, thus promising for high efficiency DSSCs.
Department of Physics, The State Key Laboratory on Fiber Optic Local Area Communication Networks and Advanced Optical Communication Systems, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
Jia
J
Lin
Xiaolin
X
Liu
Min
M
Guo
Wei
W
Lu
Guoge
G
Zhang
Limin
L
Zhou
Xianfeng
X
Chen
Haitao
H
Huang
D000838:Anions / Q000737:chemistry; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D012993:Solar Energy; D013696:Temperature; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
D000838:Anions; D004396:Coloring Agents; D014867:Water; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium