One-step synthesis of coaxial Ag/TiO2 nanowire arrays on transparent conducting substrates: Enhanced electron collection in dye-sensitized solar cells

Oriented coaxial Ag/TiO2 nanowire arrays were successfully grown on transparent conductive substrates by solvothermal route. After filling the interspaces between the nanowires with TiO2 nanoparticles, the composites were used as the photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells. Such photoanodes provided the high specific surface area and the rapid electron transport rate to improve the charge collection efficiency. An energy conversion efficiency of 9.8% was achieved, when the TiO2 shell thickness is 2.1 times greater than the silver core diameter. Meanwhile, the charge recombination rate and the electron lifetime of the cells were also investigated.

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► Oriented coaxial Ag/TiO2 nanowire arrays were prepared by solvothermal route.
► The Ag/TiO2 composite photoanodes were first used in DSSCs.
► The coaxial Ag/TiO2 nanowires enhanced charge collection efficiency.
► The DSSC with the composite photoanode showed an enhanced cell efficiency of 9.8%.