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Hydrothermal Growth of TiO 2 Nanorod Arrays and In Situ Conversion to Nanotube Arrays for Highly Efficient Quantum Dot‐Sensitized Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Huang Hui,
Pan Lei,
Lim Chiew Keat,
Gong Hua,
Guo Jun,
Tse Man Siu,
Tan Ooi Kiang
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201203205
Subject(s) - materials science , quantum dot , nanorod , nanotechnology , hydrothermal circulation , optoelectronics , electrode , etching (microfabrication) , nanotube , substrate (aquarium) , energy conversion efficiency , in situ , hydrothermal synthesis , crystallite , chemical engineering , layer (electronics) , carbon nanotube , chemistry , oceanography , organic chemistry , geology , engineering , metallurgy
TiO 2 nanorod (NR) and nanotube (NT) arrays grown on transparent conductive substrates are attractive electrode for solar cells. In this paper, TiO 2 NR arrays are hydrothermally grown on FTO substrate, and are in situ converted into NT arrays by hydrothermally etching. The TiO 2 NR arrays are reported as single crystalline, but the TiO 2 NR arrays are demonstrated to be polycrystalline with a bundle of 2–5 nm single crystalline nanocolumns grown along [001] throughout the whole NR from bottom to top. TiO 2 NRs can be converted to NTs by hydrothermal selective etching of the (001) core and remaining the inert sidewall of (110) face. A growth mechanism of the NR and NT arrays is proposed. Quantum dot‐sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) are fabricated by coating CdSe QDs on to the TiO 2 arrays. After conversion from NRs to NTs, more QDs can be filled in the NTs and the energy conversion efficiency of the QDSCs almost double.