Spherical TiO2 aggregates with different building units for dye-sensitized solar cells

Tailoring the architectures of spherical TiO2 aggregates is crucial to obtain superior photovoltaic properties and promote their application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Herein, we synthesized spherical TiO2 aggregates using different building units, including nanocrystallites, nanorods, nanosheets, and nanotubes, via a hydrothermal method, and studied the effect of the building units on the performances of DSSCs. The aggregates assembled by uniform nanosheet and nanotube building units were synthesized with the use of spherical TiO2 nanorod aggregates as titanium sources in an alkaline hydrothermal reaction. Compared with TiO2 nanoparticles, the spherical TiO2 aggregates possess higher surface area, more efficient light scattering ability, and better electron transport properties. Among the four types of spherical TiO2 aggregates; the nanorod, nanotube, and nanosheet aggregates demonstrate better electron transport properties than the nanocrystallite aggregates; the nanotube and nanosheet aggregates exhibit more efficient light scattering than the nanocrystallite and nanorod aggregates; and the nanotube aggregates show the highest surface area. Thus the DSSC based on nanotube aggregates exhibited the highest energy conversion efficiency of 7.48%, which is 16.0%, 9.7%, and 19.5% higher than those of the DSSCs based on the nanosheet, nanorod, and nanocrystallite aggregates, respectively.