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

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 cm(2) and thickness of 12 mu m) fabricated out of the material showed a superior photovoltaic performance with an efficiency (h) of 7.92% in comparison to that of commercial P25 TiO2 (6.50%).