Issue 8, 2015

Microsphere assembly of TiO2 mesoporous nanosheets with highly exposed (101) facets and application in a light-trapping quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell

Abstract

The morphology of nano-titania has a significant effect on the photoelectric properties of dye-sensitized solar cells. In this study, microsphere assembly of a TiO2 mesoporous nanosheet constructed by nanocuboids was conducted via a simple hydrothermal process. The XRD pattern indicated that the hierarchical mesoporous microspheres are anatase phase with decreased (004) peaks. Raman spectrum shows enhanced Eg peaks at 143 and 638 cm−1 caused by the symmetric stretching vibration of O–Ti–O of the (101) crystalline facet in anatase TiO2. FESEM and TEM images show that well monodispersed TiO2 microspheres with a diameter of 2 μm are assembled by TiO2 mesoporous nanosheets with exposed (101) facets. The oriented attachment of TiO2 nanocuboids along the (101) direction leads to the formation of mesoporous titania nanosheets. The UV-Vis spectrum shows that the mesoporous TiO2 nanosheets have high scattering ability and light absorption by dye. Quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells that incorporate these microspheres into the top scattering layers exhibit a prominent improvement in the power conversion efficiency of 7.51%, which shows a 45.8% increase in the overall conversion efficiency when compared with the spine hierarchical TiO2 microspheres (5.15%). There is the potential application for microsphere assembly of mesoporous TiO2 nanosheets in quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells with excellent stability.

Graphical abstract: Microsphere assembly of TiO2 mesoporous nanosheets with highly exposed (101) facets and application in a light-trapping quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Nov 2014
Accepted
09 Jan 2015
First published
12 Jan 2015

Nanoscale, 2015,7, 3539-3547

Author version available

Microsphere assembly of TiO2 mesoporous nanosheets with highly exposed (101) facets and application in a light-trapping quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell

X. Tao, P. Ruan, X. Zhang, H. Sun and X. Zhou, Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 3539 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR06865C

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