A Ag-doped double-layer composite film with TiO 2 nanoparticles (P25) as the underlayer and TiO 2 nanotube (TNT) arrays with the Ag-doped nanoparticles as the overlayer was fabricated as the photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Five different concentrations of Ag-doped TNT arrays photoelectrode were compared with the pure TNT arrays composite photoelectrode. It is found that the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the TNT arrays composite photoanode is gradually improved from 3.00% of the pure TNT arrays composite photoanode to 6.12% of the Ag-doped TNT arrays photoanode with the increasing of the doping concentration, reaching up to the maximum in the 0.04 mol/L AgNO 3 solution, and then slightly decreased to 5.43% after continuing to increase the doping concentration. The reason is mainly that the cluster structure of the Ag nanoparticles with large surface area contributes to dye adsorption and the Surface Plasmon Resonance Effect of the Ag nanoparticles improved the photocatalytic ability of the TNT arrays film.

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Highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNT arrays) were fabricated by two-step anodization process. In order to further improve the performance of DSSCs, TNT arrays were optimized by changing the anodization conditions to meet the requirements of high-performance photoanode. The photoelectric conversion properties of DSSCs based on P25/TNT arrays double-layer film with different anodization time were investigated and compared. The results show that the conversion efficiency of 4.20% was achieved in double-layer photoanode at 18 h, with an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.65 V and short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 9.98 mA cm−2.