Branched TiO₂ Nanorods Covered with TiO₂ Nanosheets for Harvesting Solar Energies in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

A hierarchical structure of branched TiO2 nanorods covered with TiO2 nanosheets was designed and constructed for harvesting solar energies in dye-sensitized solar cells. Vertical aligned TiO2 nanorod arrays were synthesized on fluorine-doped SnO2 (FTO) by using the electrochemically deposited ZnO nanorod arrays as a template and liquid phase deposition (LPD) method. The resultant TiO2 nanorod was used as a seed and the rutile TiO2 nanorods were firstly synthesized on the surface of anatase TiO2 nanorod by using hydrothermal method. In photocurrent-voltage measurements, 3.56% efficiency was achieved for 1.5um thick nanosheets coated TiO2 nanobranch (NB), which is about 239% higher than the original TiO2 nanorod arrays.

Hierarchical nanostructures of metal oxides for enhancing charge separation and transport in photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion systems

“…Hierarchical nanostructures were developed for DSSC systems aiming to utilize small size branches to increase the specific surface of the nanoarray trunks without obviously sacrificing their electron transport rate. Such hierarchical nanostructures include TiO 2 -and ZnO-based photoelectrodes, such as TiO 2 NW/NR, [77][78][79][80] TiO 2 NT/ NR, 81 TiO 2 NT/NP, 82 TiO 2 NT/NS, 83 ZnO NW/NR, [84][85][86][87] ZnO NS/ NR, 88,89 and ZnO NW/NS. 90,91 However, the larger size trunks and/ or branches than the NP counterparts did not provide a sufficient specific surface area for dye deposition.…”

Using a coupled optical and electrical monitoring method to follow the R-HiPIMS TiO2 deposition process drifts

“…Titanium oxide materials, due to its various chemical and physical properties, such as high dielectric constant [1], high refraction index [2], good thermal and chemical stability [3], catalytic photoactivity [4], and biocompatibility [5], are widely used in various industrial applications. These latter include optical and electronic devices [6][7][8][9], gas detection [10][11][12], water purification [13][14][15], and solar cells [16][17][18]. Titanium oxide thin films can be deposited using conventional DC or RF magnetron sputtering [19][20][21], as well as highpower impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) [22][23][24].…”

High-performance self-powered UV photodetectors based on TiO2nano-branched arrays

“…Tree like TiO 2 nanostructures grown directly on fluorinedoped tin oxide (FTO) glass have been widely used as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and a high lightto-electricity conversion efficiency has been achieved [27][28][29][30][31][32]. However, few works have been reported about self-powered UV photodetectors based on TiO 2 nano-branched arrays.…”