Novel Preparation Method of TiO₂-Nanorod-Based Photoelectrodes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Improved Light-Harvesting Efficiency

Abstract

We present a novel, facile, and cost-effective method to prepare highly transparent mesoporous films made by anatase TiO 2 nanorods that have been synthesized by a single-step solvothermal process. Such nanorods have been conveniently used as prepared—without completely removing the residual organics—to obtain suitable screen-printable paste by means of the use of proper polymeric binders. This method has been successfully implemented to fabricate highly efficient nanorod-based photoelectrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. They showed an increment of the overall quantum conversion efficiency comprised between 34% and 58% with respect to cells based on commercial P25 titanium dioxide nanoparticles. In particular, a maximum photocurrent density and solar conversion efficiency of 16.9 mA/cm 2 and 7.9% have been obtained, respectively.