SnO2 nanorod@TiO2 hybrid material for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Novel SnO₂ nanorod@TiO₂ hybrid materials have been designed and synthesized by in situ coating a layer of TiO₂ on the surface of the SnO₂ nanorods using a modified flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) approach. The as-prepared SnO₂ nanorod@TiO₂ hybrid materials have a length of up to about 150 nm and a diameter of about 40 nm. TiO₂ is uniformly coated on well-crystallized SnO₂ nanorods with a thickness of about 10 nm. The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) properties of the SnO₂ nanorod@TiO₂ hybrid materials were investigated. Owing to the superior light scattering effect, advantages of suppression charge recombination, and increased dye loading, the power conversion efficiency (η) of the SnO₂ nanorod@TiO₂ hybrid material electrode is 6.98%, much higher than that of the SnO₂ nanorods electrode (3.95%) and P25 electrode (5.27%).