Well-aligned TiO2 nanorod arrays prepared by dc reactive magnetron sputtering for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells

Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) have received a lot of attention because of its advantages in cost-effectiveness, flexibility, lightweight for wearable electronics and other versatile applications. Plastic substrates treated at low temperature usually have problems in material crystallinity and fragile characteristic. Here, we demonstrate an effective dc reactive magnetron sputtering strategy to fabricate a growing well-aligned TiO2 nanorod arrays for flexible dye-sensitized solar cells with superior photovoltaic performance. By controlling the length of TiO2 nanorod arrays, a large fill factor of 0.8 and PCE of 5.3% have been achieved, compared with 1.2% from traditional TiO2 nanoparticles by a low-temperature technique.