Hierarchical TiO2 flower-spheres with large surface area and high scattering ability: an excellent candidate for high efficiency dye sensitized solar cells

• Published in: Chemical research in Chinese universities Vol. 31; no. 5; pp. 841 - 845
• Main Authors: Ma, Jian, Yao, Shiting, Cheng, Pengfei, Du, Sisi, Sun, Yanfeng, Liu, Fengmin, Lu, Geyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Changchun Jilin University and The Editorial Department of Chemical Research in Chinese Universities 01.10.2015; College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University,Changchun 130012, P.R.China%School of Aerospace Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an 710126, P.R China
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Inorganic Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; Inhomogeneous size; High specific surface area; TiO; Dye sensitized solar cell; Double layered photoanode; TiO2
• ISSN: 1005-9040; 2210-3171
• DOI: 10.1007/s40242-015-5037-y

Hierarchical TiO 2 flower-spheres assembled from porous nanosheets-stacked of nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method with one-step. The as-prepared TiO 2 flower-spheres showed a diameter range from 200 nm to 550 nm and a large surface area of 188 m 2 /g. A double layer photoanode made of P25 nanoparticles and as-prepared TiO 2 flower-spheres was fabricated for the dye sensitized solar cells(DSSCs). The efficient light scattering and dye absorption of the photoanode can be attributed to the top-layer of hierarchical TiO 2 flower-spheres. DSSCs based on the double layers photoanode exhibit a higher energy conversion efficiency of 8.11% with a short-circuit photocurrent density of 17.87 mA/cm 2 , indicating that there is an increase of 38% in the conversion efficiency compared to those based on electrode P25(5.91%, 14.09 mA/cm 2 ).