Preparation and characterization of dye-sensitized TiO2 nanorod solar cells

Abstract

TiO 2 nanorods were prepared by DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique and applied to dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The length of the TiO 2 nanorods was varied from 1 μm to 6 μm. The scanning electron microscopy images show that the nanorods are perpendicular to the substrate. Both the X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman scattering results show that the nanorods have an anatase phase; no other phase has been observed. (101) and the (220) diffraction peaks have been observed for the TiO 2 nanorods. The (101) diffraction peak intensity remained constant despite the increase of nanorod length, while the intensity of the (220) diffraction peak increased almost linearly with the nanorod length. These nanorods were used as the working electrodes in DSSCs and the effect of the nanorod length on the conversion efficiency has been studied. An optimum photoelectric conversion efficiency of 4.8% has been achieved for 4 μm length nanorods.

A Comparative Investigation of Dye-Sensitized Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Nanorods Grown on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) Substrates by Direct and Seed-Mediated Hydrothermal Methods

“…Due to their unique characteristics and higher photoelectrochemical conversion in DSSCs and in order to present them as enhanced potential photoelectrodes, the synthesis and study of 1D TiO 2 nanorods were undertaken in the present work. One-dimensional TiO 2 nanostructures are generally synthesized by wet chemical routes such as hydrothermal [21,22], solvothermal [23,24], sol-gel template [25,26], sonochemical synthesis [27] and sputtering techniques [28]. Among these, hydrothermal synthesis is a promising approach due to its simple process, fast reaction velocity and low cost.…”

Inclined Substrate Deposition of Nanostructured TiO2 Thin Films for DSSC Application

“…It can be seen that this ratio increased as the substrate inclination angle increased. It means that the substrate inclination is favorable for nanorod formation as the TiO 2 nanorod grows along the (220) direction [ 19 ].…”

Synthesis of Titanium Dioxide Nanorod Arrays Using a Facile Aqueous Sol-Gel Route for Ultraviolet Photosensor Applications

“…Previous research has established that the single-crystal 1D TNAs or TNWs could be synthesized via physical vapor deposition (PVD) method [18,19] and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [20]. Others are such as sol-gel coating, anodic oxidation, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), template-assisted and sol-gel hydrothermal-based technique.…”