Preparation, characterization, and application of titanium nano-tube array in dyesensitized solar cells

Abstract

The vertically orientated TiO 2 nanotube array (TNA) decorated with TiO 2 nano-particles was successfully fabricated by electrochemically anodizing titanium (Ti) foils followed by Ti-precursor posttreatment and annealing process. The TNA morphology characterized by SEM and TEM was found to be filled with TiO 2 nano-particles interior and exterior of the TiO 2 nano-tubes after titanium (IV) n-butoxide (TnB) treatment, whereas TiO 2 nano-particles were only found inside of TiO 2 nano-tubes upon titanium tetrachloride (TiCl 4) treatment. The efficiency in TNA-based DSSCs was improved by both TnB and TiCl 4 treatment presumably due to the increase of dye adsorption. © 2012 Ho et al.