Cabbage leaf-shaped two-dimensional TiO2 mesostructures for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

We have fabricated ‘cabbage leaf’-like TiO₂ mesostructures of high surface area from electrospun TiO₂–SiO₂ composite nanofibers by titanate route for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) application. The initial TiO₂–SiO₂ composite nanofibers, the intermediate titanate and the final leaf-like TiO₂ are characterized by spectroscopy, microscopy and surface area measurements. The material (final TiO₂) acts as a dual functional material in DSCs with high dye loading and a high light scattering capability. The best DSC (a square-shaped cell of area 0.20 cm² and thickness of 12 μm) fabricated out of the material showed a superior photovoltaic performance with an efficiency (η) of 7.92% in comparison to that of commercial P25 TiO₂ (6.50%).