Controllable hydrothermal synthesis of rutile TiO2 hollow nanorod arrays on TiCl4 pretreated Ti foil for DSSC application

• TiO2 nanorods are prepared via hydrothermal process on TiCl4-pretreated Ti foil.
• Hollow TiO2 nanorods are obtained by hydrothermal etching of TiO2 nanorods.
• TiCl4 pretreatment plays a key role in protecting Ti foil from chemical corrosion.
• Hollow TiO2 nanorods photoanode shows enhanced photoelectric efficiency for DSSC.

Rutile TiO2 nanorod arrays (TNRs) were achieved by hydrothermal process on TiCl4 pretreated Ti foil. Subsequently, TNRs were hydrothermally etched in HCl solution to form hollow TiO2 nanorod arrays (H-TNRs). The TiCl4 pretreatment plays key roles in enhancement of Ti foil corrosion resistance ability and crystal nucleation introduction for TNRs growth. TNRs with desired morphology can be obtained by controlling TiCl4 concentration and the amount of tetrabutyl titanate (TTB) accordingly. TNRs with the length of ~1.5 μm and diameter of ~200 nm, obtained on 0.15 M TiCl4 pretreated Ti foil with 0.6 mL TTB, exhibits relatively higher photocurrent. The increased pore volume of the H-TNRs has contributed to the increased surface area which is benefit for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC) application. And the 180 °C-H-TNRs photoanode obtained from the 0.15-TiCl4-TNRs sample demonstrated 128.9% enhancement of photoelectric efficiency of DSSC compared to that of the original TNR photoanode.

Rutile hollow TiO2 nanorod array photoanode obtained from original TiO2 nanorod array photoanode by hydrothermal etching demonstrates enhanced photoelectric efficiency of DSSC. Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide