Controlled Assembly of Nanorod TiO₂ Crystals via a Sintering Process: Photoanode Properties in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

We present for the first time a synthetic method of obtaining 1D TiO 2 nanorods with sintering methods using bundle-shaped 3D rutile TiO 2 particles (3D BR-TiO 2 ) with the dimensions of around 100 nm. The purpose of this research is (i) to control crystallization of the mixture of two kinds of TiO 2 semiconductor nanocrystals, that is, 3D BR-TiO 2 and spherical anatase TiO 2 (SA-TiO 2 ) on FTO substrate via sintering process and (ii) to establish a new method to create photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In addition, we focus on the preparation of low-cost and environmentally friendly titania electrode by adopting the "water-based" nanofluids. Our results provide useful guidance on how to improve the photovoltaic performance by reshaping the numerous 3D TiO 2 particles to 1D TiO 2 -based electrodes with sintering technique.

Forced Convection Nanofluid Heat Transfer as a Function of Distance in Microchannels

“…As the uniformity of the nanoparticles in the base liquid increases, the possibility of nanoparticle-nanoparticle and nanoparticle-molecule collisions and interactions increase and as a result, the energy transportation across the working fluid increases and consequently would increase the thermal conductivity [8,38] and heat transfer coefficient. Rutile TiO 2 nanoparticles were used to enhance the efficiency of dye-sensitized and perovskite solar cells which can be seen in references [42,43,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. The high electron transport property of rutile TiO 2 nanoparticles discussed and reported in different references [57,58] in detail.…”

“…Nanoparticles were not coated and it was observed that the nanoparticles distributed uniformly in most of base liquids, including water. The crystal phase of TiO 2 nanoparticles found using XRD method which is explained in reference [ 42 ] in detail. Figure 9 shows TEM image of TiO 2 nanoparticles.…”

“…The nanoparticles are almost spherical in size of ~5–10 nm. The detail of this nanoparticle production can be seen in reference [ 42 ].…”

Production of Anatase Tio2 Nanocrystals Using Freeze-Dry Process

“…In recent years, we have demonstrated that brush-shaped TiO2 nanoparticles can be synthesized at near roomtemperature [14,15]. From TEM measurement, the size of TiO2 particles was found to range from 100-200 nm consisting of nanowires with an average diameter of ~5 nm.…”