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Ordered titanium dioxide films with large and controllable microstructure have been prepared by a low temperature sputtering deposition method. The Figure displays the “parallel penniform” structure of the films, which have very large surface area and excellent contact to the underlying substrate, rendering them potentially important for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical applications.

Nanocrystalline titanium oxide films were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering onto SnO 2 :F-coated glass substrates kept at temperatures in the 50 < τ s < 300 °C range. Dye sensitization in cis-dithiocyanato-bis-(2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylate) ruthenium(II) yielded solar cells with a conversion efficiency η. The dye incorporation was dependent upon τ s , and an optimum value of η ) 1.7% was found with ∼0.8-µm-thick titanium oxide films prepared at 250 °C. The microstructure then displayed a well-defined parallel penniform pattern, and the luminous transmittance was 42%. The crystallite size was substantially enlarged at τ s > 250 °C, and η showed an ensuing decrease.

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