Cost-effective dye-sensitized solar cells based on rutile-phase three-dimensional TiO2 hierarchical nanostructures

Specifically engineered three-dimensional (3D) and 1D morphologies are expected to play significant roles in the development of next-generation dye-sensitized solar cells. In this study, using a hydrothermal approach without a surfactant or template, we attempted to synthesize a 3D hierarchical rutile titanium dioxide (TiO2) architecture by varying the growth temperature and time. X-ray diffraction patterns of the synthesized TiO2 correlated well with rutile TiO2. Scanning electron microscopy images exhibited different nanostructures, such as nanorods, aggregated nanorods, and 3D TiO2 microflowers comprised of nanorods at 100 degrees C, 130 degrees C, and 160 degrees C, respectively, after growth for 6 h. A significantly improved efficiency was observed for the TiO2 microflowers. The TiO2 microflowers exhibited an efficiency of 1.16%, short-circuit current density of 12.8 mA cm(-2), open-circuit voltage of 0.692 V, and fill factor of 0.67.