Enhanced dye loading-light harvesting TiO2 photoanode with screen printed nanorod-nanoparticles assembly for highly efficient solar cell

•The nanorod-nanoparticles (NR-NP) assembly was synthesized via hydrothermal method.•Dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was made by screen printing of NR-NP photoanode.•Utilization of NR-NP photoanode improved light scattering and dye loading effects.•Highly-efficient DSSC was fabricated by using NR-NP photoanode.

Morphology tailored TiO2 nano assemblies consisting of nanorods with and without nanoparticle attachments were hydrothermally synthesized and their characteristics and light scattering properties were determined by x-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis). The nanorod-nanoparticles (NR-NP) assemblies and smooth nanorod (NR) double layers were screen printed onto fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass underlayers to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) photoanodes. The double layer heterogeneous hierarchical NR-NP decoration had wide Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) area which resulted in 45.1% dye loading capacity, 18.96 mA cm−2 photocurrent and average photoanode efficiency of 8.07% which was 21% greater than NRs photoanode efficiency. Distinct NR-NPs morphology indicated multiple wave trapping and strong light scattering which was as high as 89.2%. Improvements in NR-NPs DSSCs performance were obtained because of lower resistance to charge transfer (10.07 Ω) and faster diffusion of electrolyte ions (1.22 Mho).

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