Anatase TiO2 Nanotubes-Aggregated Porous Microspheres for Ti Foil-Based Quasi-Solid State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Improved Photovoltaic Performance

Fibrous anatase TiO2 nanotubes-aggregated porous microspheres (AMS) with high specific surface area (160m(2)g(-1)) were fabricated through an alkali solution-assisted hydrothermal process followed by an acid post-treatment and a calcination by using commercial TiO2 nanopowder (P25) as raw material. The resultant AMS microspheres with an average diameter of similar to 5m have three-dimensional network-like porous structures formed by accumulation and winding of fibrous TiO2 nanotubes with diameter<10nm. When used as photoanode materials of Ti foil-based quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells, the AMS film-based solar cell gives a conversion efficiency of 7.16% with 34% improvement when compared to the P25 film-based one (5.34%).