TiO2 nanorods branched on fast-synthesized large clearance TiO2 nanotube arrays for dye-sensitized solar cells

A large clearance TiO2 nanotube arrays (LTAs) has been synthesized by a not more than 12 h anodization duration and based on this a branched TiO2 nanotube arrays (BLTs) has been achieved through TiO2 nanorods branch-like grown on the LTAs. Some key factors and probable mechanisms of the fabrication processes on two novel nanoarchitectures are discussed. Exhilaratingly, it is found that the obtained LTAs has demonstrated large pore diameter and void spaces (pore diameter similar to 350 nm; void spaces 160 nm; and tube length similar to 3.5 mu m), and the synthesized hierarchical BLTs, compared with conventional TiO2 nanotube arrays, has shown a much stronger dye absorption performance and an approximately double of the solar cell efficiency (in our case from 1.62% to 3.18% under simulated AM 1.5 conditions). (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.