Interconnected TiO2 nanowires consisting of nanosized crystallites for high conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells with gel electrolyte

•Interconnected nanowires consist of nanocrystallites (INCNCs) film was reported.•This INCNCs film provides a large surface area for the adsorption of dye molecules.•The INCNCs photoelectrode displays markedly high charge-collection efficiency.•A high light-to-electricity yield of 8.20% was achieved by applying the INCNCs.

In this paper, we present a method to prepare interconnected TiO2 nanowires consisting of nanosized crystallites (INCNCs). A high light-to-electricity conversion yield of 8.20% was achieved by applying the structure of the thin INCNCs electrode film in DSSC with gel electrolyte, much higher than 6.84% of TiO2 nanoparticulate film with same thickness (6.5 μm).