TiO2 nanorod-based photoelectrodes for dye solar cells with tunable morphological features

• Mesoporous films made by different breeds of shape-controlled anatase TiO2 nanorods
• Correlation between the nanocrystal morphology and the photovoltaic performances
• Multilayered photo electrodes made by nanocrystals having synergistic peculiarities

The ability to create photoanodes in which the structural and morphological features of the underlying TiO2 nanocrystalline constituents provide a tailored nanotexture with a higher degree of functionality still represents an indispensible step toward boosting the ultimate light-to electricity conversion of photoelectrochemical devices. This is especially evident for dye solar cells. In this paper we have systematically analyzed the impact of several different TiO2 nanorod morphologies on the most meaningful electrochemical features of the mesoporous photoelectrode of a dye solar cell. The most relevant findings have been then adopted as design criteria to realize an optimized multilayered photoelectrode with a properly engineered architecture which embodies three different breeds of nanocrystal with synergistic peculiarities. It exhibited superior power conversion efficiencies with respect to conventional nanoparticle-based reference film.