Article pubs.acs.org/JPCC
Trilayered Photoanode of TiO2 Nanoparticles on a 1D−3D Nanostructured TiO2‑Grown Flexible Ti Substrate for High-Efficiency (9.1%) Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Unprecedentedly High Photocurrent Density Wu-Qiang Wu, Yang-Fan Xu, Hua-Shang Rao, Cheng-Yong Su, and Dai-Bin Kuang* MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, KLGHEI of Environment and Energy Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: An engineered and optimized trilayered TiO2 photoelectrode on Ti metal substrates with synergistic effects for dye-sensitized solar cells has been developed through the combination of one-dimensional (1D) TiO2 nanotubes, threedimensional (3D) TiO2 hierarchical microsized spheres, as well as zero-dimensional (0D) nanoparticles with a large surface area. The advantages of efficient charge-collection, light-harvesting, as well as high dye-loading capability make it possible to achieve unprecedentedly high short-circuit photocurrent density (17.90 mA cm−2) under back-side illumination and thus allow us to obtain a power conversion efficiency as high as 9.10%.
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INTRODUCTION In recent years, lightweight and flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted more and more attention due to their low cost and more extensive application in portable equipment such as lap-top computers, mobile phones, watches, etc.1 Compared to the high-cost and rigid tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) or fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), lightweight and flexible substrates are more suitable to be used as photoanodes for roll-to-roll mass production and make it possible to extend DSSCs to a broader range of new applications.2,3 Normally, transparent plastic substrates (ITO/PEN or ITO/PET) and opaque metal substrates (Ti metal foil or stainless steel) are widely used as a photoanode substrate for DSSCs.4−8 However, thermal instability of plastic substrates limits the required TiO2 sintering temperature to a low degree (
