Self-Seeding Synthesis of Hierarchically Branched Rutile TiO₂ for High-Efficiency Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Abstract

This study presents a unique and straightforward room temperature-based wet-chemical technique for the self-seeding preparation of three-dimensional (3D) hierarchically branched rutile TiO2, abbreviated HTs, employing titanate nanotubes as the precursor. In the course of the synthesis, spindle-like rutile TiO2 and the intermediate anatase phase were first obtained through a dissolution/precipitation/recrystallization process, with the former serving as the substrates and the latter as the nucleation precursor to growing the branches, which finally gave birth to the production of 3D HTs nanostructures. When the specifically created hierarchical TiO2 was used as the photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), a significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.32% was achieved, outperforming a typical TiO2 (P25) nanoparticle-based reference cell (η = 5.97%) under the same film thickness. The effective combination of robust light scattering, substantial dye loading, and fast electron transport for the HTs nanostructures is responsible for the remarkable performance.

Facile Synthesis of a Multifunctional SnO2 Nanoparticles/Nanosheets Composite for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…21–1272, Figure 1 b) also appear at 2θ = 36.09 and 41.22° in addition to the SnO 2 structure, confirming the existence of TiO 2 nanocrystallites on the surface of the SnO 2 film. 2 It is anticipated that the TiO 2 coating will have a substantial effect on the chemical and photoelectrochemical properties of SnO 2 , leading to better dye absorption and injection efficiency of photogenerated electrons into semiconductors, thereby increasing the photoelectric conversion efficiency.…”

“…Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have attracted tremendous interest over the past decade and have shown significant promise for practical photovoltaic applications owing to their low cost and effective photovoltaic performance. − Since the first study on mesoporous titania-based photoanode films was published in 1991, numerous studies on DSCs have been conducted. To date, efficiencies of more than 12% have been achieved by using a mesoporous film of sintered TiO 2 nanoparticles as the photoanode. , In addition to the frequently used TiO 2 , alternative semiconductors with broad band gaps, such as SnO 2 , , ZnO, , Nb 2 O 5 , , and Zn 2 SnO 4 , , are also being investigated.…”