Fabrication of Hierarchical Anatase TiO2 Nanostructure for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Hierarchical anatase TiO2 nanostructure was synthesized through a simple one-step hydrothermal method, and used as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Different reaction time of 3, 6, 9, and 12 h were adopted to obtain photoanodes with different thickness and morphology. The surface area of the hierarchical structure increased significantly with the increase of reaction time, which can substantially promote the dye adsorption. The maximum energy conversion efficiency of 4.11 ± 0.02% was obtained with the reaction time of 9 h while the thickness of photoanode was only about 2 μm, this could be attributed to the hierarchical nanostructure with synergistic effects of high dye loading and small recombination resistance.