Improvement of light harvesting and device performance of dye-sensitized solar cells using rod-like nanocrystal TiO2 overlay coating on TiO2 nanoparticle working electrode

•Single crystalline TiO2 nanorods were prepared for DSSC application.•TiO2 nanorods show effective light scattering performance.•TiO2 nanorods have higher electron transfer efficiency than TiO2 nanoparticles.•TiO2 nanorods on TiO2 nanoparticle electrode improve DSSC efficiency.

Novel TiO2 single crystalline nanorods were synthesized by electrospinning and hydrothermal treatment. The role of the TiO2 nanorods on TiO2 nanoparticle electrode in improvement of light harvesting and photovoltaic properties of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) was examined. Although the TiO2 nanorods had lower dye loading than TiO2 nanoparticle, they showed higher light utilization behaviour. Electron transfer in TiO2 nanorods received less resistance than that in TiO2 nanoparticle aggregation. By just applying a thin layer of TiO2 nanorods on TiO2 nanoparticle working electrode, the DSSC device light harvesting ability and energy conversion efficiency were improved significantly. The thickness of the nanorod layer in the working electrode played an important role in determining the photovoltaic property of DSSCs. An energy conversion efficiency as high as 6.6% was found on a DSSC device with the working electrode consisting of a 12 μm think TiO2 nanoparticle layer covered with 3 μm thick TiO2 nanorods. The results obtained from this study may benefit further design of highly efficient DSSCs.

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