Hydrothermal synthesis of ordered single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays on different substrates

Abstract

We report the mild hydrothermal synthesis of single-crystalline rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays (NRAs). The method reported here shows great versatility and can be used to grow TiO2 NRAs on a large diversity of substrates including Si, Si/SiO2, sapphire, Si pillars, and fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO)-covered glass. The average diameter and length of the nanorods prepared at typical conditions are ∼60 nm and 400 nm, respectively. Dye-sensitized solar cells assembled with the TiO2 NRAs grown on the FTO-covered glass as photoanode were prepared with a photoconversion efficiency of ∼1.10%.

Morphology-controllable polycrystalline TiO2 nanorod arrays for efficient charge collection in dye-sensitized solar cells

“…Currently, oriented rutile TiO 2 nanorod arrays (NRAs) derived by wet chemical routes have attracted more and more attentions [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48], mainly due to the intrinsic electronic properties of their single-crystalline nanostructures [49]. In 2008, Feng et al, [36] for the first time prepared densely-packed rutile TiO 2 NRAs up to 5 µm directly on a FTO substrate via a low-temperature (at 180 o C) solvothermal reaction.…”

Influence of annealing temperature on performance of dye-sensitized TiO2 nanorod solar cells

“…The diffusion length of electrons is expected to be much longer in the ordered TiO 2 single-crystalline NRs owing to a defect-free structure. There have been a few reports on DSSCs made with TiO 2 NR or nanowire (NW) arrays [11,[15][16][17][18][19][20]. Feng and his co-workers synthesized the densely packed single crystal TiO 2 NW arrays on FTO glass by hydrolysis of Ti precursors [15].…”

Nanocrystalline TiO2 micropillar arrays grafted on conductive glass supports: microscopic and spectroscopic studies

“…c o m / l o c a t e / t s f their direct electrical pathway, which causes a faster charge transport to the electrode, thus greatly reducing recombinations effects and then improving the performance of the optoelectronic devices (Scheme 1). To this purpose, vertically oriented arrays of nanotubes, rods, strips, cones and pillars made of anatase [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], rutile [9,[30][31][32] and by mixed anatase-rutile nanostructures [33,34], have been fabricated.…”

“…The separation of TiO 2 material from the solution after irradiation is necessary as well as the presence of a hierarchical porosity, providing a fast accessibility and a facile fluid transport may be mandatory for an efficient use of the material in the industrial applications [8]. As far as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are concerned, an overall light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of~12% has been obtained [9,10]. The overall process is complex, mainly ruled by many factors, including the lightharvesting efficiency, type and stability of the adsorbed-dye (i.e.…”