Controlled fabrication of TiO_2 rutile nanorod/anatase nanoparticle composite photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cell application

摘要

We present a straightforward procedure to prepare composite photoanodes which consisted of TiO_2 rutile nanorods/anatase nanoparticles synthesized under hydrothermal conditions, with the ratio of rutile to anatase controlled simply by adjusting the volume of nitric acid. The as-prepared TiO_2 composites exhibited high specific surface area, light-scattering effect, and good crystallinity. The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) using the TiO_2 composites showed higher short-circuit photocurrent and overall conversion efficiency than the DSC from pure-anatase nanoparticles. The highest conversion efficiency was achieved from the DSC based on TiO_2 nanocomposites with 24wt% rutile nanorods, which was attributed to improved light harvesting caused by the enhancement of specific surface area and scattering effect from rutile nanorods.