No abstract

This article describes three-dimensional open architectures with free-standing grid-like nanostructure arrays as photocatalytic electrodes for a new type of dye-sensitized solar cell. It introduces a novel technique for fabricating a series of semiconducting oxides with grid-like nanostructures replicated from the biotemplates. These semiconducting oxides, including n-type titanium dioxide or p-type nickel oxide nanogrids, were sensitized with the dye molecules, then assembled into 3D stacked-grid arrays on a flexible substrate by means of the Langmuir–Blodgett method or the ink-jet printing technique for the photocatalytic electrodes. The article first considers the fabrication of photoelectrodes with 2D grid-like nanostructures by means of the biotemplating approach before discussing the assembly and photophysicsof grid-like nanostructures into 3D open architectures for the photocatalytic electrodes.